League of Women Voters
Template:Short description Template:Infobox organization
The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and advocating for voting rights. In addition, the LWV works with partners for specific campaigns including support for campaign finance reform, women's rights, health care reform and gun control.<ref name=ford>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=voteandvoice>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The League was founded as the successor to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which had led the nationwide fight for women's suffrage. The initial goals of the League were to educate women to take part in the political process and to push forward legislation of interest to women. As a nonpartisan organization, an important part of its role in American politics has been to register and inform voters, but it also lobbies for issues of importance to its members, which are selected at its biennial conventions. Its effectiveness has been attributed to its policy of careful study and documentation of an issue before taking a position.<ref name=nyleague>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=voteandvoice/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Page?</ref> Its bylaws do not allow it to endorse candidates or political parties. In the Trump era, the strong response by the league to political polarization and core issues such as voting rights has weakened support for it on the right.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Activities
VOTE411.org
VOTE411.org is a nonpartisan bilingual website in English and Spanish that allows voters to input their address and get candidate and election information tailored to their location.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Candidate survey responses to three questions specific to the office are included on the site.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> The League of Women Voters, including state and local leagues, runs the site which received a 2020 Webby Award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
National Voter Registration Day
In 2012, LWV created National Voter Registration Day, a day when volunteers work to register voters and increase participation.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Sponsoring debates
State and local leagues host candidate debates to provide candidates' positions at all levels of government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
History
Founding
The League of Women Voters was created in 1920 as the merger of two existing organizations, the long-established National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Council of Women Voters (NCWV).
The founding goals of the National League of Women Voters were to educate women on election processes and lobby for favorable legislation on women's issues. These were the same as the goals of the NCWV, which had been founded by Emma Smith DeVoe after her proposal for such an organization was rebuffed at the 1909 National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) convention in Seattle. When her proposal was ignored, DeVoe founded the National Council of Women Voters in 1911. She recruited western suffragists and organizations to join the NCWV.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ten years later, prior to the 1919 Convention of the NAWSA (in St. Louis, Missouri), Carrie Chapman Catt began negotiating with DeVoe to merge her organization with a new league that would be the successor to the NAWSA. Even though continuing as the NCWV might have made sense because the goals were essentially those that Catt proposed for the new organization, Catt was concerned that DeVoe's alignment with the more radical Alice Paul might discourage conservative women from joining it and thus proposed the formation of a new league. In founding the League of Women Voters, Catt sought to create a political process that was rational and issue-oriented, dominated by citizens, not politicians.<ref name="history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She feared that alliance with political parties would reduce the independence of these organizations and swallow up their concerns in more partisan concerns. In addition, by endorsing one candidate the organization would inevitably lose the support of the opposing candidate. As fifteen states had already ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the women wanted to move forward with a plan to educate women on the voting process and shepherd their participation.
A motion was made at the 1919 NAWSA convention to merge the two organizations into a successor, the National League of Women Voters. Although not all members of either organization were in favor of a merger, the merger was officially completed on January 6, 1920. For the first year the league operated as a committee of the NAWSA.<ref name=history/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The formal organization of the League was drafted at the 1920 Convention held in Chicago.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In her presidential address on March 24, 1919, at the above-mentioned NAWSA convention, Catt had said:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Let us raise up a League of Women Voters—the name and form of organization to be determined by the voters themselves; a League that shall be non-partisan and non-sectarian in character and that shall be consecrated to three chief aims:
- To use its utmost influence to secure the final enfranchisement of the women of every state in our own Republic and to reach out across the seas in aid of the women's struggle for her own in every land.
- To remove the remaining legal discriminations against women in the codes and constitutions of the several states in order that the feet of coming women may find these stumbling blocks removed.
- To make our democracy so safe for the Nation and so safe for the world, that every citizen may feel secure and great men will acknowledge the worthiness of the American Republic to lead.”<ref>Template:Cite archive Template:PD-notice</ref>{{#if:|
|}}{{#if:|
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
Carrie Chapman Catt was named honorary chairman of the League instead of president because she insisted that it was for younger and fresher women to lead the new work.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
As time passed, women's political organizations did find that political parties redefined issues of concern to them as "women's issues" and pushed them aside.<ref name="voteandvoice" />Template:Rp<ref name="voteandvoice" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Throughout the first part of its history, the League of Women Voters was not welcoming to women of color and its predecessor NAWSA ignored issues involving race due to fears that it would reduce support for equal suffrage.
In subsequent years, due to the increasing influence of women in politics, the league has evolved a more inclusive mission, to "protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1920–1930
The issues of primary concern to the League in the 1920s were extending the Sheppard–Towner Act first passed in 1921, a Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution, and voter education.
The Sheppard–Towner Act, first passed in 1921, provided federal subsidies to those states that provided education in maternity and infant care. It was initially slated for five years, and was twice extended in the 1920s, but finally failed to pass in 1929.<ref name="ford" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On October 17, 1929, Belle Sherwin, the president of the League of Women Voters, and Ruth Morgan of New York City headed a delegation to ask President Herbert Hoover to support the renewal of Federal aid to the States in maternity and infancy work.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was later revived as part of the Social Security Act of 1935.
In 1923, a special committee of the national League of Women Voters picked twelve women as the "greatest living American women". They were Jane Addams, Cecilia Beaux, Annie Jump Cannon, Carrie Chapman Catt, Anna Botsford Comstock, Minnie Maddern Fiske, Louise Homer, Julia Lathrop, Florence Rena Sabin, M. Carey Thomas, Martha Van Rensselaer, and Edith Wharton.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
At the 1926 convention of the national League, Belle Sherwin, the League president, emphasized education in politics as the right road toward true democracy.
Whether it is possible to develop in this country an education which will qualify citizens to be partners in government is a question to face squarely. For many, education today is either remote and limited to a brief period or is highly specialized for vocational purposes. Education for active citizenship has hardly been tried.
She went on to mention "the modest attempts of schools here and there to teach critical reading of the newspapers and other means of avoiding mob-mindedness." Prohibition and birth control were hot issues that year, but were not included in the subjects for study and legislation during the ensuing year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1926, The New York League together with the Women's National Republican Club established information booths in seven department stores, explaining to women how to register to vote, and installed a voting machine at League headquarters to demonstrate how to vote. The League members explained literacy tests and requirements and hours for registration. A frequent question involved the status of an American woman married to an immigrant. The League also presented a series of pre-election talks, including a talk on "National and State Legislators", "The Judiciary", and "Machinery of Elections".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
At the 1929 convention of the League of Women Voters of New York, the members voted for a New York State prohibition enforcement act. They also voted to favor old age pensions and ask the Legislature to give women the right to do jury service, to permit physicians to give contraceptive information to married persons, and to extend the benefits of workmen's compensation for all occupational diseases.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
During the 1920s, the League of Women Voters of New York sent an annual questionnaire to candidates for local office, and published the answers in the publication "Information for Voters".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1929, the questionnaire covered maintaining the 5 cent subway fare, creation of a permanent city planning board, immediate action on a sewage and waste disposal plant, unlimited building heights in certain districts, and reclassification of civil service employees to provide automatic salary increases.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In the 1930s, the League was supportive of New Deal programs such as Social Security and the Food and Drug Acts.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1940–1969
In 1945, the League advocated for the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, and was recognized by the UN as a permanent observer, giving it access to most meetings and relevant documentation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> <ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In the 1950s, League member Dorothy Kenyon was attacked as a Communist by Joseph McCarthy and president Percy Maxim Lee testified before Congress against Senator Joseph McCarthy's abuse of congressional investigative powers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1960, the League supported the Resources and Conservation Act of 1960 (S. 2549), beginning a long history of environmental engagement.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The league ultimately supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but their efforts came too late to have major impact.<ref name="jefferson-jenkins">Template:Cite book</ref> After first refusing to oppose discrimination in housing in 1966, the 1968 program included opposition to discrimination in housing and support for presidential suffrage for citizens of Washington, DC.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1969, the League was one of the first organizations in the United States calling for normalizing relations with China.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nyleague" />
1970–2000
In the 1970s, after years of opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment as proposed by the National Woman's Party,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the League offered support to an Equal Rights Amendment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1974, the League began to admit men.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1975, a bill entitled "The Indian Law Enforcement Improvement Act" was introduced in the Senate and supported by the League of Women Voters of Nebraska, saying "We support self determination and therefore self government of all citizens, in this case Native Americans." After two days of hearings, the bill was not reported out of committee.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The LWV sponsored the United States presidential debates in 1976, 1980 and 1984.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On October 2, 1988, the LWV's 14 trustees voted unanimously to pull out of the debates, and on October 3 they issued a press release condemning the demands of the major candidates' campaigns. LWV President Nancy Neuman said that the debate format would "perpetrate a fraud on the American voter" and that the organization did not intend to "become an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> All presidential debates from 1988 until 2020 were sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a bipartisan organization run by the two major parties that some argue has established rules with the intent to exclude airing candidates associated with other parties.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1998, the League elected its first African-American president, Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She served two terms, until 2002, and wrote a book "The untold story of women of color in the League of Women Voters" documenting the history of the League and women of color.<ref name="jefferson-jenkins" />
The League fought for the 1982 Amendments to the Voting Rights Act<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and in the 1990s was important in the passage of National Voter Registration Act of 1993, popularly known as the Motor Voter Act.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The act requires states to offer voter registration at all driver's license agencies, at social service agencies, and through the mail.<ref name="LynneFord">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="KateLombardi">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="CliffordKrauss">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="CelinaStuart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="AdamClymer">Template:Cite news</ref>
2000–present
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
In 2002, the League supported the Help America Vote Act (with some reservations about the final compromise)<ref name="hava1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="hava2">Template:Cite news</ref> and the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act.<ref name="bcra1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="bcra2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="bcra3">Template:Cite journal</ref>
In 2014, the League sponsored voter guides including Smart Voter and Voter's Edge in collaboration with MapLight.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Update needed<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2018, the league took an extraordinary step in opposing Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation due in part to his sexual assault allegations and fears around judicial independence.<ref name=":0" />
In 2020, the League of Women Voters supported Native Americans in seeking to remove restrictions on ballot delivery from reservations.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Native American voting rights group Four Directions filed a suit on behalf of six voters from the Navajo Nation asking the court to extend the deadline for Arizona counties to receive the ballots of voters, because of "lack of home mail delivery, the need for language translation, lack of access to public transportation and lack of access to any vehicle." The court declined to extend the deadline due to lack of standing of the plaintiffs.<ref>Template:Cite court</ref>
The League of Women Voters of Arizona filed an amicus curiae, saying that:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Most Arizonans take access to mail receipt and delivery as a given. By contrast, the District Court recognized the painful reality that "several variables make voting by mail difficult" for Native American voters. More specifically, "[m]ost Navajo Nation residents do not have access to standard mail service," including home delivery, and must travel "lengthy distance[s]" to access postal servicesTemplate:Snda burden compounded by "socioeconomic factors."
In 2021, the League of Women Voters of Florida partnered with VoteRiders to get word out to eligible voters about the changes made due to Floria Senate Bill 90, signed into law in May 2021. The Florida League also partnered with the Black Voters Matter Fund and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans to file lawsuits against the changes. The trial court struck down multiple provisions of the law but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay reinstating the restrictive law.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
After the United States Capitol attack of January 6, 2021, the league's board called Trump a "tyrannical despot" and advocated his removal by legal means.<ref name=":0" /> This, among other positions such as around transgender rights and police accountability, have led more Republicans to criticize the league and not respond to VOTE411 candidate surveys.<ref name=":0" /> Some Republican-led states have been making voter registration more difficult, prompting the league to stop registering voters in Kansas, for example, for fear of its members facing prosecution.<ref name=":0" /> Richard Hasen argues that it would be tough to be seen as neutral when voting rights, a foundational issue for the league, have become a seemingly partisan issue.<ref name=":0" />
Policy views
The League lobbies for legislation at the national, state, and local levels. Positions on national issues are determined by decisions at the most recent national convention. Members of state and local leagues determine their leagues' positions on state and local issues, consistent with the national positions.
The League was founded by suffragists fighting for the right of women to vote and has always been concerned with issues around voting and representative government. Other issue areas in which the League currently advocates are international relations, natural resources, and social policy.
Voting and representative government
In 1993, the League pushed for the adoption of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires states to offer voter registration at all driver's license agencies, at social service agencies, and through the mail.<ref name=LynneFord/><ref name=KateLombardi/><ref name=CliffordKrauss/><ref name=CelinaStuart/><ref name=AdamClymer/>
The League works with the non-partisan VoteRiders<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> organization to spread state-specific information on voter ID requirements. In 2002, the League endorsed passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which banned soft money in federal elections and made other reforms in campaign finance laws.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was also a major proponent of the Help America Vote Act.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2010, the League opposed the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which removed limits on corporate contributions to candidates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It filed an amicus brief in support of the FEC.<ref>Template:Cite court</ref>
The League supports the DISCLOSE Act, which would provide for greater and faster public disclosure of campaign spending and combat the use of "dark money" in U.S. elections.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The League currently opposes restrictive photo ID laws and supports campaign finance reform in the United States, including public financing of elections, restrictions on spending by candidates, and abolishing super-PACs.<ref name=fec>Template:Cite news</ref>
International relations
The League lobbied for the establishment of the United Nations, and later became one of the first groups to receive status as a nongovernmental organization with the U.N.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The League was active from the beginning in promoting world peace and international organizations.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Source-attribution "At the second League of Women Voters convention, in 1921, Carrie Chapman Catt spoke, and said: 'The people in this room tonight could put an end to war. There is no audience in the world that won't applaud him who talks of world peace. Everybody wants to and every one does nothing. I am for a league of nations, a Republican league or any kind the Republicans are in. I believe it is the duty of every one who wants the world to disarm to compel action at Washington. Our country is not judged by its parties; it is judged as a nation. But why don't we do something? I ask you: Is there anybody anywhere with an earnest crusading spirit who is trying to arouse America? No. We are as stolid and as inactive as if we did not face the greatest opportunity in history. We are the appointed leaders. It isn't possible for us to see the horrors of the other side. We go on daily living in a pardise while tragic Europe tries to gather its ruins together. We have waited too long, and we will get another war by waiting. Let us make a resolution tonight; let us consecrate ourselves to put war out of this world. It is necessary that we rise out of narrow partisanship, that we act as women.'"</ref>
Natural resources
Template:See also The League supported the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Kyoto Protocol.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The League opposes the proposed Keystone Pipeline project.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In January 2013, the League of Women Voters in Hawaii urged President Obama to take action on climate change under the authority given him by the Clean Air Act of 1963.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Social policy
The League opposes school vouchers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1999, the League of Women Voters of Florida challenged a Florida law that allowed students to use school vouchers to attend other schools.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The League supports universal health care and endorses both Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The League supports the abolition of the death penalty.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
LGBT+ rights
LWV supports LGBT+ rights and has stated that "defending our democracy and ending discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community go hand in hand."<ref name=lgbt>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It has also supported the participation of transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports.<ref name=":0" />
Governance
National
A national board of directors consisting of four officers, eight elected directors, and not more than eight board-appointed directors, most of whom reside in the Metro Washington DC area, govern the League subject to the Bylaws of the League of Women Voters of the United States. The national board is elected at the national convention and sets position policy.<ref name=bylaw>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
State and local leagues
Local Leagues and state Leagues are organized in order to promote the purposes of the League and to take action on local and state governmental matters. These Leagues (chapters) have their own directors and officers. The national board may withdraw recognition from any state or local League for failure to fulfill recognition requirements.<ref name="bylaw" />
The League of Women Voters has state and local leagues in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and Hong Kong.
See also
- List of notable members of the League of Women Voters
- List of women's clubs
- National Organization for Women
References
Further reading
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
Selected works published by the League of Women Voters
Template:Further reading cleanup
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite report
- Template:Cite archive
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
External links
Historical resources
- Core.ac.uk: Miscellaneous materials related to League of Women Voters
- Digital Public Library of America: Assorted materials
- Library of Congress:
Template:League of Women Voters Template:United States presidential debates Template:Women's lobbies, alliances and national committees Template:Liberal feminism Template:Woman's club movement Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- League of Women Voters
- American democracy activists
- Articles containing video clips
- Carrie Chapman Catt
- Election and voting-related organizations based in the United States
- Liberal feminist organizations
- Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.
- Political organizations established in 1920
- United States presidential debates
- Voter turnout organizations
- Women's suffrage advocacy groups in the United States