Norman Turrill was elected to a second term on the LWVUS Board of Directors in 2010. He is the first man to ever serve on the LWVUS national board. Mr. Turrill is no stranger to political action or causes in the public interest. After college at the University of Washington he served as a teacher from 1966 to 1968 in the Peace Corps in Somalia. “My experience in Africa gave me a fresh perspective on the advantages we take for granted, as well as the political foundation that makes our opportunities possible.”

Mr. Turrill joined the Seattle League in the 1970s shortly after they began to accept male members, but did not become active. Instead, he was active in Common Cause for many years, serving at different times as state president in Nebraska and Washington and a state Board member in New York and Oregon. For Common Cause he worked on such issues as sunshine public disclosure, sunset laws, annual legislative sessions, campaign finance, government ethics and redistricting. These were often in close coordination with the League.

In Pennsylvania, Mr. Turrill became more active in the Hershey League, serving as treasurer and acting president, and represented them at the LWVUS 2000 national Convention.

Beginning in 2001 in the Portland Oregon League, Mr. Turrill was active in Voter Service and coordinated DNet. He was a member of the Portland Board for 2002-03 and represented Portland at the LWVUS Conventions in 2002 and 2004. He later joined Portland’s Action Committee and helped lobby for Voter Own Elections and Lobby Disclosure ordinances for the City of Portland.

Mr. Turrill joined the Oregon state board in 2004 and served as Voter Service co-chair. He then joined the state Action Committee and was appointed its vice-chair and Campaign Finance Chair. Representing the League, he helped organize the Oregon Building Better Campaigns (BBC) coalition and was elected as its interim chair. In 2004 he was appoint by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury to his Campaign Finance Disclosure Panel, which eventually led to the 2005 Oregon legislature instituting the ORESTAR online campaign disclosure system. In 2005, he was elected as the state League’s First Vice President, was re-elected in 2007 and served as Action Chair. Representing the Oregon League, he attended the LWVUS 2006 and 2008 Conventions and 2005 and 2007 Councils.

Since being elected to the LWVUS Board in 2008, Mr. Turrill was appointed as Technology chair and Program chair and has served on the Advocacy, Development and Membership committees. He organized the League Geeks volunteers to aid members with their use of the League's various computer systems.

Mr. Turrill has MS degrees in Chemistry and Computer Science from University of Washington. He worked at Boeing while his wife, Joanna Cain, completed her residency at the University of Washington Medical School. Career assignments took the couple to Nebraska, Seattle, New York, Seattle, Pennsylvania, and then Portland, where Dr. Cain chaired the OHSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and served as Director of the Women’s Health Center. Dr. Cain now serves in a similar position at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, RI. They have two children, a daughter, who recently graduated from the University of Denver, and a son, who recently graduated from Southern Oregon University. Mr. Turrill is now mostly retired and self-employed as a consultant, computer analyst/software engineer. When doing nothing else, he enjoys skiing and singing in his church choir, and served as an adult leader for the Boy Scouts.