About Us:

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

History:

The League grew out of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the organization that spearheaded the 72 year drive to give American Women voting rights. Both the National and our State Leagues were formed in 1920, the year women's suffrage was written into the Constitution.

Immediately, the League took up the task of educating 20 million women on how to carry out their responsibilities as voters. The League's "founding mothers" also quickly established two features that have remained with the League throughout its history. They enlarged the scope of League work to include service not just to women voters, but to all citizens. Realizing that voters have to do more than vote if citizens are to have a real chance to shape public policy, they made political action a keystone in the League's multi-faceted agenda.

Since 1920 The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, has fought to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. The League's enduring vitality and resonance comes from its unique decentralized structure. The League is a grassroots organization, working at the national, state and local levels.

Over time, the League's legislative priorities change to reflect the needs of society and critical issues of concern. The organization remains true to its basic purpose: to make democracy work for all citizens.

The League of Women Voters is wholeheartedly political, working to influence policy through advocacy. However, the League remains a nonpartisan organization, neither supporting nor opposing candidates for office at any level of government. It is the original grassroots citizen network, directed by the consensus of its members and mobilized whenever necessary.

There are Leagues in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong, in addition to the hundreds of local Leagues nationwide. The League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters Education Fund operate at the national level with grassroots support from state and local Leagues.