It’s been quite a year. There have been tough moments, no doubt. But as I reflect on the work of the League and our supporters, there is so much to celebrate. I believe that acknowledging all the wins we’ve achieved and the ways we’ve grown is essential, especially during times of change. 

Making space for our accomplishments reminds us of the power we hold when we work together, advocating as a collective. It shows us the impact of even our smallest, individual actions. Perhaps most importantly, it provides inspiration for the year ahead. I, for one, am counting on that inspiration to power me through! 

As we wrap up this year, I’m reflecting on some of our greatest successes of 2024. From unprecedented voter outreach to the launch of a new moonshot campaign to the return of an important state League, there’s so much to celebrate! These successes are only a fraction of the work that Leagues and our supporters have accomplished this past year. We hope you’ll share your favorite moments with fellow League supporters through social media or at your next League meeting! 

Without further ado, here are some of our greatest achievements we accomplished together: 

Making Over 40 Million Voter Contacts 

The heart and soul of our work in 2024 was empowering voters, from primary season to the federal election and beyond. Thanks to the tireless work of our supporters and generous gifts from donors, we were able to surge our election work and reach an unprecedented number of voters! 

From January 1 to November 5, Leagues made at least 30 million voter contacts via in-person canvassing, email, social media, phonebanking, textbanking, our election information resource VOTE411.org, billboards, and more. These efforts included: 

• 9.3 million visits to VOTE411 (a 50% increase compared to 2020), including nearly 380,000 visits to VOTE411 on Super Tuesday alone; 

• VOTE411 coverage of more than 55,000 candidates in nearly 30,000 elections 

• More than 600 voter registration events hosted by more than 500 Leagues just on National Voter Registration Day;  

• Nearly 70,000 direct voter-to-voter conversations to get out the vote; and 

• The launch of VOTE411’s new campaign finance feature, which empowered voters to learn about the financial backers of federal candidates. 

Getting out the vote was also the focus of our award-winning Women’s Inequality Day campaign, during which nearly 100 Leagues collaborated with 26 nonprofit and corporate partners to promote women’s voting power. Posts from LWVUS alone reached over 111,000 people on social media.

Launching the One Person One Vote Campaign 

This past year we were excited to launch our moonshot campaign, One Person One Vote, to abolish the Electoral College and establish a more representative system for electing the president. 

The Electoral College is an outdated relic initially created to disempower voters, particularly Black voters. It takes power away from the people and puts it in the hands of the Electoral College. 

We’re thrilled to have launched this campaign and will ramp up our efforts in 2025. Sign up to be a part of it! 

Protecting the Rights of More Than 9.3 Million Voters 

Thanks to the dedication of members and supporters, we were able to protect the rights of millions of voters through state and federal lawsuits in 2024. 

This included 53 cases empowering voters around the federal election, 85% of which were found to have a "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" impact.

Our Leagues also initiated numerous cases in 2024 that are ongoing. This includes a lawsuit responding to an incident in New Hampshire when bad actors used AI robocalls to deceive and disempower thousands of voters. These deceptive messages in the days before the primary election, featuring a voice similar to President Biden’s, falsely suggested that voting in the primary would preclude them from voting in the November federal election.  

Sending 111k Messages to Congress and the White House 

This year, League supporters sent more than 111,600 messages to their representatives about issues like voting rights and women’s equality. 

These include 45,000+ messages to both Congress and the White House demanding the official certification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). In August, we launched an urgent call for action on the ERA, because it’s far past time that gender equity was enshrined in the US Constitution. We’ve been fighting for the ERA for over half a century, and in 2025 we’ll continue to push President Biden to use his final days in office to get this Amendment across the finish line. 

Supporters also spoke up against voter discrimination by sending 35,000+ messages to Congress in support of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. 

Other actions focused on bipartisan cooperation, climate change, money in politics, and more. 

Partnering to Boost Civic Engagement 

Any year you get to collaborate with a pop icon, a Broadway musical, and a WNBA team is a good year! 

We supercharged our voter outreach by partnering with companies and organizations including: 

• American Bookseller’s Association; 

• American Library Association; 

• Girl Scouts of the USA; 

• LUSH Cosmetics; 

• Lyft; 

• Macy’s, Inc.; 

• Microsoft; 

• Reddit; 

• Saie Beauty; 

• Showtime/MTV; 

• Snapchat; 

• SUFFS the musical; and 

• the Washington Mystics. 

These collaborations ranged from co-hosting nonpartisan get-out-the-vote volunteer events with members of the Women @ Microsoft employee resource group to publishing joint civic education programming with Girl Scouts or hosting voter registration pop-ups in LUSH stores nationwide. 

We also partnered with fellow advocates for voting and women’s rights on advocacy campaigns throughout the year.  

To celebrate Pride Month, we marched with Cyndi Lauper, her True Colors Foundation, and Planned Parenthood Los Angeles in the West Hollywood Pride Parade. Cyndi has been a longtime advocate for VOTE411. She promoted the site several times this year, including on National Voter Registration Day! 

Throughout the year, Leagues partnered with pro-democracy groups to get out the vote, empower young voters, and engage Leagues in our Power the South campaign.

Relaunching LWV of Nevada

After four years of hard work with a dedicated team of Nevada League members, we relaunched the League of Women Voters of Nevada! The new League is focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, cultural transformation, and building strong coalition partnerships.  

Nevadans deserve a strong League to protect their right to vote. The relaunch of this League is a win both for the state and our democracy as a whole! 

Producing Research on Voters and Reproductive Rights with UMass Amherst

To best serve voters, we need to know where they stand on issues like the Electoral College, reproductive rights, health care, and more. That’s why this year we partnered with the University of Massachusetts Amherst to conduct research on voters, with an intentional oversample of women. 

Some of our most interesting findings include the following: 

• Over half of respondents support moving away from the Electoral College and toward a more representative system of directly electing the president; 

• A majority support efforts to make voting more accessible like expanding vote-by-mail options, same-day voter registration, automatic registration, online voting, and restoring voting rights to those who have served prison sentences; 

• The majority of voters oppose national bans on abortion and/or in vitro vertilization (IVF); and 

• There was strong support for health care and family-related policies like paid family leave, increasing the child tax credit, and policies associated with the Affordable Care Act. 

It was important to use our unique position as advocates for women voters to produce this research. I look forward to LWV continuing to collect and share even greater insight in the years to come! 

Being Recognized for Our Work 

While fighting for democracy is its own reward, I won’t deny it’s nice to see our efforts recognized. This is particularly true in an election year when our members and supporters go above and beyond their usual efforts to empower voters and defend democracy. 

I was thrilled to see VOTE411 honored by both the Webby Awards and the Anthem Awards. As I mentioned above, our one-stop shop for election information empowered voters more than 9.3 million times this past year. Whether people were registering to vote, finding candidate information, finding their polling places, or making their plans to vote, VOTE411 was there for them — in English and Spanish. I personally use VOTE411 every election, so I know firsthand just how well-deserved these recognitions are. 

It was also wonderful to be recognized by the Anthem Awards for our Women’s Inequality Day campaign, which highlighted the power of VOTE411 and women voters (see "Making 30 Million Voter Contacts” above). Since this campaign first launched in 2022, we have highlighted the inequities faced by women in our democracy and ways we can tackle them. What message could be more central to our work? 

Starting a New Chapter at Our Biennial Convention 

Finally, on a note of personal significance to me, in 2024, we held our biennial National Convention. Nearly a thousand League leaders and members came together in Washington, DC, to work collaboratively and determine our goals for the next two years. 

We started with a lobby day, sending 230 League members to Capitol Hill to lobby for the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Our members held over 120 meetings with the offices of various Congress members — that means 20% of Congress heard directly from the League in one day. 

We then hosted an all-women panel on our One Person One Vote campaign, featuring LWV’s own Celina Stewart, Esq. 

Our work picked up that weekend, as we elected our new Board nominating committee, voted on resolutions for the upcoming biennium, thanked our outgoing interim co-CEOs Kelly McFarland Stratman and Alma Couverthie, and paid tribute to our beloved former president, Dr. Deborah Ann Turner. 

Convention was particularly special for me, as our outgoing LWVUS Board President, Sania Irwin, passed the mic, literally and metaphorically, to me as the new President of the League.  

As a longtime member of the League, I’m incredibly honored to have been elected to this position by my peers. It was a joy to speak to our members at Convention, where I introduced our 2024 – 2026 Board of Directors and had a fireside chat with my new partner in leadership, CEO Celina Stewart, Esq. 

I look forward to building on the legacies of my predecessors, including the great Dr. Turner and the incomparable Dr. Sania Irwin, while bringing my unique experiences to the table in a new era of leadership. 

Even in a year with many challenges and transitions, we accomplished powerful wins, both for our democracy and for our 104-year-old organization. These successes showcase the power of our collective action as we enter a critical era in our nation’s history. I can’t wait to see what more we accomplish together in 2025.