In this issue:
- Prepare to be a Voter: June 7th Runoff Election
- Report from our Annual Meeting
- 2025 LWVD Award Recipients
- Hold the Date: 2026 Annual Luncheon
- Nominations Open for Prestigious Awards
- Happy 95th Birthday to Barbara Weinstein
- Advocacy Corner:
- Juneteenth in Dallas
- LWVTX Take Action Center
- City of Dallas 2025 Community Survey
- New Members
| Prepare to be a Voter: June 7th Runoff Elections
🗳️ The four biggest cities in Dallas County — Dallas, Irving, Grand Prairie and Garland — are holding runoff elections for city council seats. The city of Dallas is holding runoff elections for City Council seats 8 and 11.
⏰ Early voting for the June 7th runoff elections has begun! Early voting will end on Tuesday, June 3rd, and election day is Saturday, June 7th. Check election details and key dates and deadlines here. Check voting locations here. | LWV Dallas Annual Meeting, Saturday May 17th
The League of Women Voters Dallas held a successful 87th Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 17th. We gathered as a community, celebrated a year of League achievements, honored our outgoing board members, and voted on important organizational plans that look to the year ahead. We offered Awards of recognition to our community members, who will be highlighted below. | Meet our 2025 Award Winners!
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President’s Meritorious Service Award Recipients
| | Edna Arratia is fluent in English and Spanish and focuses her voter registration efforts in some of the often overlooked, Hispanic communities in Dallas County. She also helps with voter registration at the Naturalization ceremonies to help new citizens go through the process as soon as they have taken their Oath to our country. As a Realtor, Edna makes sure that her clients register to vote at their new address. | | | | Carol Farquhar has been a volunteer for the League of Women Voters of Dallas since 2018. She has been involved in the creation of various Voter Guides over the years including “wrangling” candidates, inputting candidates’ information into the computer system, and analyzing the pros and cons of various charter propositions and bond proposals. She also delivers the hard copies of the Voter Guides. In 2024 she taped a segment for the LWV podcast discussing the City of Dallas charter amendment proposals. She was one of the LWV representatives to the Dallas County Vote Center Advisory Committee in 2023 and presented the League’s position on the Committee’s recommendations to the Dallas County Commissioners. | | | Carol has served as a Volunteer Deputy Registrar (VDR) in Dallas County. She is a retired attorney, having practiced civil trial and appellate law since graduating from SMU in 1978. She is the proud mother of two children and the adoring grandmother of one grandchild. She was married for 38 years to her husband, Michael Farquhar. Carol also volunteers as a docent at the George W. Bush Presidential Center and is on the Board of Northwood Woman’s Club. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Indiana University and a Juris Doctor degree from SMU.
| | I am Tanya J Lindsey-Johnson. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. I have lived in the Dallas-Forth Worth Area for 30+ years. I am retired. Before retirement, I worked in education for 34 years as an educator. As a youth, I volunteered as a canvasser and phone bank solicitor for social justice issues related to local and state campaigns affecting my community. I picked up where I left off after retirement. I am volunteering my services with the League of Women Voters, March to the Polls, Urban League of Young Professionals, and my sorority, of which I am Chairman of the Connection and Social Action Community.
| | | | Daryl Meador holds a PhD in Cinema Studies from New York University. Born and raised in Dallas, she has had the pleasure of working for the League of Women Voters as their office administrator since April 2024. She is also a practicing artist, writer, and advocate for strengthening communities in North Texas. | | | | Terri Romine-Ortega is retired from the federal government. She enjoys spending time with her friends and family, traveling, and volunteering with several organizations including LWV of Dallas, Meals on Wheels and Metrocrest Services. Terri has lived in Carrollton for over 25 years with her husband, Jon. | | | | Diane Tasian currently serves on the Board of the League of Women Voters of Dallas (LWVD) as the Director of Volunteers. She has served as a volunteer for most of her adult life. Although a member of the League of Women Voters of Dallas since 2004, she became active in 2015, first helping deliver Voters Guides, and in 2016 serving on the Fair Park study group. In 2017 she served on the Vote411/Voters Guide team working to help candidates participate in the Voters Guide. Also in 2017, she joined the Board and served as VP of Program from 2017-2019, and President from 2019-23. She is also a certified Volunteer Deputy Registrar (VDR) in Dallas County.
| | | She is married to her college sweetheart; is the mother of two young women; mother-in-law to their husbands; grandmother of four young women; and a retired healthcare architect. Diane holds a BFA degree from the University of Houston and a Master of Architecture degree from UT Arlington. She was a licensed architect in Texas and a credentialed USGBC LEED AP BD+C when she retired in 2010. Her specialty was healthcare architecture.
| Myrtle Bales Bulkley Award
The Myrtle Bales Bulkley award was first presented at the Annual Meeting in 1989 and it has been given yearly ever since. The award was named in honor of Myrtle Bales Bulkley, a charter member of LWVUS, long-time member of LWVD, and mother of League member Virginia Whitehill. Myrtle was born in 1899 in the farming community of Colo, Iowa. She attended Iowa State Teachers College just prior to the passage of the Women’s Suffrage Amendment in 1920. As a student she worked with other young women who lobbied for suffrage by giving talks, writing letters, and making posters.
| | The recipient of the 2025 Myrtle Bales Bulkley Award is Norma Arratia.
Norma became a U.S. citizen in 2019 and during the citizenship ceremony, she pledged to do more for her new country. She is a Volunteer Deputy Registrar in Dallas County and helps register new voters, many of whom need assistance in Spanish. She also serves as bilingual poll worker for local, state and federal elections. Her father had served many times as a poll worker on elections in Mexico, so she
knew she needed to do the same in the United States. | | | Norma graduated with a Bachelor of International Business and a Minor in Finance from TecnolĂłgico de Monterrey and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at El Paso. At UTEP she served as Vice President of Professional Activities in Delta Sigma Pi professional business fraternity and as Secretary of the Business College Council. She is currently part of the leadership of the UTEP DFW
Alumni Network.
She has volunteered with the League of Women Voters of Dallas for 5 years, assisting with the translation of nonpartisan Voter Guides, flyers, brochures, interviewing with local media and presenting to community groups.
She has called Dallas home since 2007, where she lives with her sister Edna, their two dogs Sadie and Bella and their turtle Ruthie.
| The Virginia Macdonald Leadership Award
In 1996 the Dallas League initiated an award to honor the lasting legacy of courage and inspiring leadership of Virginia Macdonald, Dallas League president in 1955 to 1961 who went on to serve on the state and national boards. In her over 50 years as a League member, she was not only a fierce advocate in local and global issues, but a committed Dallas League mentor and trainer.
The Leadership Award in Virginia’s name is given from time to time to a League leader who has exhibited courage in working for change and who inspired leadership in others. A committee made up of past recipients of this award convenes each year to recommend a new recipient. | | The recipient of the 2025 Virginia Macdonald Leadership Award is Madge Cruse.
Madge Cruse has a B.A. from UNT and a J.D. from Texas Tech. Her law career was focused on real estate, including representing developers in private law practice, overseeing property dispositions for the RTC and FDIC during the early 1990s, developing store sites for Starbucks Corp, and finally retiring in 2013 after seven years in retail development.
Throughout her busy law career, Madge had always donated money in lieu of time. After retiring, she could finally start spending time on issues she cared about. | | | She didn’t find the League until COVID, when she attended a Zoom meeting where the speaker was Demetria McCain, who was known for sponsoring several innovative programs in Dallas to incentivize Landlords to accept
housing vouchers. After that meeting, Madge met numerous LWV Dallas volunteers and was overwhelmed by their combined knowledge and passion for protecting our democracy.
After joining the League, Madge served as the LWV Texas Affordable Housing Chair during the 2021 Legislative Session and restarted the housing interest group at LWV Dallas. In 2022, she was elected to the LWV Dallas Board as Treasurer, where she has agreed to serve until 2026. During that time, she has been an active member of the Finance Committee, Bylaws Committee, and the Planning Committees for the Annual Luncheon and Annual Meeting. Madge is most proud of her work with Diane Tasian to support Elizabeth Walley in expanding the distribution of the Voters Guide. Through partnerships with organizations across Dallas County, they distributed 40,000 guides and 60,000 bookmarks to over 180 locations for the November 2024 election.
In addition to her work with LWV Dallas, Madge volunteers with organizations working on safe, affordable housing, serves as Treasurer for the Irving Chorale, and does pro bono legal work for other nonprofits.
|  | Announcing the 2026 Award Luncheon: Hold the Date
2026 League of Women Voters of Dallas Awards Luncheon
Friday, February 20, 2026
11:00-1:30 p.m.
Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum, 14901 Dallas Parkway
| Celebrating Community Leaders:
Nominations are now open for the 2026 Making Democracy Work and the Eleanor Sutherland Volunteer Awards!
Dear Members,
The League of Women Voters of Dallas is thrilled to announce nominations for two prestigious awards that honor individuals who have made a significant impact on our community: the Making Democracy Work Award and the Eleanor Sutherland Volunteer Award.
The Making Democracy Work Award recognizes individuals who champion democracy and civic engagement in Dallas. Past recipients have advanced voting rights and amplified the voices of underrepresented individuals, leaving a lasting impact on our community.
Similarly, the Eleanor Sutherland Volunteer Award honors individuals whose volunteer efforts have made lasting impacts on our organization and the community. Named after Eleanor Sutherland, this award celebrates those who embody her commitment to improving society.
The nominees for these awards should have a substantial history of leadership initiatives, contributions to democracy, and impact on the community.
Let's honor our unsung sheroes and heroes by nominating those whose remarkable efforts deserve recognition. Submit nominations for the Making Democracy Work Award or the Eleanor Sutherland Volunteer Awards to highlight their extraordinary contributions.
For the Making Democracy Award nomination form, go here. For the Eleanor Sutherland Volunteer Award nomination form, go here. The deadline for submissions is July 18, 2025. For inquiries, contact Cecilia McKay at cemck@currently.com.
Let’s come together to celebrate the strength of community leadership and volunteerism in creating a more just, equitable, and dynamic democracy.
Warm regards,
League of Women Voters of Dallas Luncheon Committee
| Happy Birthday to Barbara Weinstein!
Former League President Barbara Weinstein is celebrating her 95th Birthday, June 3rd.
Barbara was also on the State Board, and led many local League training workshops for state leaders and members all over Texas's. She was also a leader of the Sunshine Committee which participated actively in amending the Texas Constitution requiring State Legislators to record their votes.
Consider making a $95 donation in honor of Barbara's 95th birthday, a dedicated League member for over 50 years! |  | Juneteenth 2025 in Dallas
June 19th is Juneteenth, a day to commemorate the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved people in the United States. However, the fight for Black liberation was not resolved with the end of slavery and the US Civil War, and this day reminds us of the injustice and brutality in our nation's history. Learn more about Juneteenth here.
Dallas has several celebrations coming up this month to celebrate Juneteenth, including an MLK Freedom Walk and a Juneteenth Festival. Check out the events happening this month to commemorate Juneteenth here.
|  |  | Visit the LWV Texas Take Action Center
The League makes taking action easy! Our priority issues are voting rights and redistricting. Urgent issues include women's health, public education, and climate change. League volunteers monitor these and other issues important to Texans. Find your elected officials, write letters to the editor, and keep up with voting rights and election law bills by clicking the link below:
TAKE ACTION NOW | City of Dallas 2025 Community Survey | |
The City of Dallas is asking Dallas residents to complete the Community Survey. The purpose of the Community Survey is to assess resident perceptions of Dallas and understand community priorities regarding City services. Take the survey at dallassurvey.org.
| Welcome to our new members!
Sandra Oleary
Melody Chambers
Araceli Hintermeister
David Robinson
| Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. | |
League of Women Voters of Dallas
6060 N. Central Expwy, Ste #500
Dallas, Texas 75206
(214) 688-4125
info@lwvdallas.org
lwvdallas.org
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