League of Women Voters Biennial Convention - 2017

The Convention will be held on June 10 – 11, 2017 at the Clarion Inn Historic Leesburg. The deadline for registering for the LWV-VA 2017 Convention is June 2, 2017. To register go to www.lwv-va.org, see the first item on the page for information and the link to the registration form.

The Convention will be called to order at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10, 2017. In addition to a business meeting, Saturday’s speakers include Brenda Rogers, League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) board member, and Lloyd Leonard, LWVUS senior director for advocacy. Saturday afternoon features nine breakout sessions, including:

• Voters' and Civil Rights in Virginia - Carol Noggle, LWV-VA Legislative Coordinator and Claire Guthrie-Gastanag of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union;
• ERA: 2 AWAY! (Nevada recently ratified the Equal Rights Amendment; are Virginia & Illinois next?) - Pat Fishback, League of Women Voters of the Richmond Metropolitan Area and Coordinator of The Centennial Rally for Equal Rights
• What's Next for Redistricting in Virginia? - Brian Connon, OneVirginia2021
• Fracking in Virginia – Meghan Dorsett, League of Women Voters of Virginia’s (LWV-VA) Fracking Study Committee
• Engaging New Activists with Sips & Civility - Judy Parente, League of Women Voters of Falls Church (LWVFC)
• Gun Safety: Can the Tide be Turned? – Ruth Hoffman & Judy Helein, League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area (LWVFA)
• Report on United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 2017 – Jill Follows, LWVFA and LWVUS delegate to the Commission
• Making Democracy Work with Action: LWV-VA’s 2017-18 Budget
• Leadership for the League: Meet the LWV-VA Board Nominees

The Saturday’s Convention reception and banquet features the speaker, Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor for Slate magazine. She writes the "Supreme Court Dispatches" and "Jurisprudence" columns. The evening concludes at about 9:00 p.m. allowing time for additional networking among League members.
On Sunday, June 11, 2017, the Convention resumes with two additional workshops:

• The report of Transparency Virginia 2017 with Rebecca Bowers-Lanier, with the Virginia Public Access Project and,
• Using Technology (e.g., SurveyMonkey and SignUPGenius, etc,) to Understand and Serve Members – Beth Tudan, LWVFA Executive Director

During the plenary session, the Convention will vote on the 2017-18 program, budget, and the 2017-2019 Board of Directors. The Honorable Nancy Rodrigues, Virginia Secretary of Administration, will discuss the voter registration issues for the 2017 Virginia election. The Convention concludes at 12:30 p.m.
Hotels located within 15 minutes from the Clarion are located in Sterling, Virginia. Excellent rates at nearby hotels, including the Best Western Dulles Airport Inn, and the Hampton Inn & Suites Washington-Dulles International Airport, both on Holiday Drive; the Candlewood Suites Washington Dulles Sterling, on Severn Way; the Hawthorn Suites Sterling Dulles North, on Whitley Place, are available through various online booking site (e.g., Expedia, Orbitz, etc.).

The League of Women Voters of Virginia is a non-partisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues.