Nonpartisan and advocate – two words that are most often used to describe the League of Women Voters. They seem contradictory. The Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of these two words would support that view: Nonpartisan = not partisan; especially, free from party affiliation, bias, or designation. Advocate = to support or argue for (a cause, policy, etc.).
What is often hard to understand about the League is that while we are one body, we are composed of two halves, and sometimes it is difficult for outsiders, and perhaps even members, to see the line that divides the two halves.But if we go back to the League’s roots, to our history of 100 years, it is easier to understand this division.
The League was formed out of the suffragist movement, advocating for the right of women to vote.Two organizations, the National Council of Women Voters (NCWV) and the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), merged to form the League of Women Voters.We hear a lot more about NAWSA, which was led by Carrie Chapman Catt, than we ever do about the NCWV, in part, because it was short-lived.
The NCWV was formed by Emma Smith DeVoe, a westerner who as a member of NAWSA proposed at its 1909 convention in Seattle that a separate organization be created to educate women on election processes and lobby for favorable legislation on women's issues.Remember, women in the western states and territories, unlike women in the eastern states, already had the right to vote, were close to gaining the right to vote and would be elected to Congress prior to 1920.
When a separate organization was not formed, Emma formed the NCWV in 1911. It was a nonpartisan coalition of women from voting states.The goals of the NCWV were to create an educational organization for women voters, to lobby for legislation, and to extend women’s suffrage nationally (https://tinyurl.com/NCWV-DeVoe).Negotiations began in 1919 for the merging of NCWV with NAWSA and from those negotiations emerged the new League of Women Voters in 1920. The League’s initial goal was to educate women on the voting process and encourage their participation in elections.
The League still educates the public on the voting process—not which party or candidate they should vote for—and encourages voters to vote in elections at all levels of government. We are nonpartisan in this educational process.
In the League’s 100-year history, it has never supported nor opposed a political party or a candidate, at any level of government.When our local League held forums this summer for the primary elections, ALL candidates listed on the ballot for an office were invited to participate, whether they were running as Republicans, Democrats or Independents with no party affiliation.
However, just as the suffragists advocated for a woman’s right to vote, so does the League use its passionate energy advocating for issues that we have studied and developed an opinion.Being nonpartisan does not equal having no opinion!
Whether our opinions and advocacy on issues is left or right of a constantly shifting centrist needle is not what defines our nonpartisanship! The League’s nonpartisanship comes from never supporting or opposing a political party or candidate.
However, this leads to the appearance of contradiction.This is perhaps the best example to explain the two halves of our wonderful organization: We continue to advocate the public, all candidates and all political parties for expanding voter rights, such as allowing returning citizens in Florida to vote, but we educate all citizens on the voting process without supporting or opposing a political party or candidate.
Remembering our nonpartisanship and advocacy roots keeps us grounded in the political world in which the League exists.