What we are doing next!

The world changes, but the League's mission never ends. The national League of Women Voters is making big changes to our membership process to make it easier to local chapter, which are mainly run by volunteers, to manage finances much easier. And a big side effect of this is a change in the dues structure.

First, in a few days our JOIN and DONATE pages will look considerably different. When you sign up to be a member you will be taken to what is, essentially, a new website to get signed up and make your dues payment.

But the biggest change you will notice will be the amount of those dues. Dues for the LWV has been significant, up until now, $60 as previously advertised on our website. The LWV is now suggesting a standard dues rate of $75 dollars. For people who are passionate about our work but cannot afford that much, you can pay what you can afford but the minimum amount is $20. There are no special memberships, every person needs to pay dues. For that, you have early access to information about what the LWV is doing in your county, in your state, and at the national level. You have access to great training on how to advocate for issures you care about. You can jump right into a particular voter education or voter services effort to help voters get to the polls and know what they are voting about. 

You can help make change, even after big national elections, because all politics begin locally. Our County Executive is holding budget hearings throughout Frederick County in the coming weeks, see the calendar item below. Several cities in Frederick County will be holding their local elections, and we need to help voters understand how that is done. And, of course, a new mix of representatives have taken office at the federal government level in Washington, DC, and are very busy making changes we all need to understand.

The state legislative session has started and the LWV of Maryland are on top of the issues most important to us. 

We need to get voters interested in what's happening at the local level to improve the responsiveness of our local government to our concerns. If you have been thinking about how to make change, please join the League of Women Voters of Frederick County AFTER February 3 (we have to make sure our website is working). Help us make the best of the government work our representatives will be doing this coming year. We will be doing our best to help you connect with your representatives, and to understand what they are doing as the new year progresses.

If you are not a joiner, we accept donations for our voter education efforts, as we are affiliated with the LWV of Maryland, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Be sure to mark your donation as "For voter education." This covers all of our work providing voter education programs, voter registration drives, the Vote411 website and the Voters' Guide that we hope you use when you want voting information of all sorts, and candidate forums where you can hear from local candidates running for local office. All of these efforts are nonpartisan, as we do not endorse candidates.

You can also donate specifically to our advocacy efforts, as we are a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that accepts donations to support our government engagement work. The latter is not tax deductible, but it supports advocacy at state and local government on the issues you can find on this website on many different pages.

Donate to voter education and/or advocacy at the Donation link at the top of this page.