LWVMA Council 2026 Recap

This year’s virtual LWVMA Council: Defending the Commonwealth took place on Saturday, June 6th. 

• Council Delegates voted on our new 2026-2028 Board Officers and Directors for the LWVMA Board of Directors. You can find the approved slate in the Nominating Committee’s report HERE. 

• We thank outgoing Board Members and those that served in the 2025-2026 Board year: Courtney Rau Rogers (Co-President, LWV Norwood), Karen Price (2nd Vice President, LWV Needham), Erica Rachel Andrews (Director, LWV Northampton Area), and Jess Vocaturo (Director, Member at-Large).

• Delegates & Observers also heard from Dr. Christine Slaughter (Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston University) in her Keynote address: Disenfranchisement by A Thousand Cuts, which utilized her research to provide our League with information about what barriers exist to underrepresented voters and how we can support them in a post-Callais world. Watch the recording HERE.

Meet our Speaker

Dr. Christine Slaughter is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston University and a fellow in the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research interests lie at the intersection of political psychology, racial inequality, and voting behavior. Through her research, Dr. Slaughter is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston University and a fellow in the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research interests lie at the intersection of political psychology, racial inequality, and voting behavior. Through her research, Dr. Slaughter examines how members of historically marginalized groups (through their race, class, and/or gender) develop psychological and social resources to engage in the political process. Her research has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, The Bay State Banner, and Capital B News, as well as in many academic journals. Dr. Slaughter has received numerous awards for her scholarship, including being the 2025 recipient of the Best Paper on Intersectionality Award from the Women, Gender, and Politics section of the American Political Science Association (APSA), and the recipient of the 2026 Rodney Higgins Best Faculty Paper from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, among other honors.

Dr. Slaughter is a proud alumna of Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia and earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. She also serves as a proud

Dr. Slaughter is a proud alumna of Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia and earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. She also serves as a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, where she contributes to public service in Boston, Massachusetts.