Advocacy

Advocacy

Non-Partisanship

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization, meaning that it does not support or oppose particular candidates or political parties. This does not mean that the League takes no position on issues. On the contrary, there is a well-established process by which Local, State or National Leagues can choose to study an issue and attempt, by consensus (not voting), to arrive at a position on that issue. This position must be approved by the Local Board and membership. Local Leagues cannot take action or otherwise advocate for any issue unless such a position exists at either the local, state or national level. Local positions cannot conflict with LWVUS or LWVMA positions.

Local Leagues also have strict non-partisanship policies which must be followed by their board members, with the most restrictive rules applying to the President(s) and Head(s) of Voter Service.  These rules specify what types of political activity (e.g., running for office, campaigning for other candidates, supporting issues) are allowed. The current Wellesley non-partisanship policy can be found here.

State and Local Advocacy

The LWVMA has developed program planning action priorities and goals for 2021-2023:

  • Improving Elections, including same-day voter registration and permanent vote-by-mail
  • Informed, Engaged and Authentic Voters and Civic Education, including supporting the online voters' guide and civic education in schools
  • Climate Emergency and Sustainable Environment, including advocating for passage of comprehensive climate legislation and improve public transportation
  • Government for the People, including healthcare, gender rights, education, meeting basic human needs and pandemic recovery
  • Justice, including eradication of systemic racism in MA, support reform of sentencing, probation and parole policies

The LWVW is fortunate to have two members of the LWVMA's Legislative Action Committee (LAC). Tanya Roy keeps the LWVW up-to-date on issues coming before the MA State Legislature with a special focus on the area of transportation. Lucy Costa is also on the State LAC and her focus is on the area of Criminal Justice and Courts. The LAC reviews bills which have been filed with the MA legislature, writes testimony on the League's position to submit to the relevant committee of the Legislature, follows the progress of these bills, and make recommendations to the LWVMA board each year about which bills to support (or oppose). The 2021-22 list of League Supported/Opposed bills can be found here. The LWVMA then adopts Action Prorities at its convention each year which helps League members prioritize (but not limit) advocacy efforts.

Help the League Advocate

  • The legislative process is described in the How The Legislature Works webinar
  • Find the League Advocacy toolkit here.
  • You can find phone numbers, email addresses and office addresses on the legislature’s webpage for your Senator and Representative. Go to www.malegislature.gov and click on the Legislators tab. If you don’t know who your legislators are, click here.
  • The LWVMA Action Newsletter is distributed to all LWVMA members. Anyone can request the Action Newsletter by clicking here.
  • To be added to LWVMA Specialist mailing list focusing on criminal justice and courts, email Nancy Bettinger and Lucy Costa at criminaljustice [at] lwvma.org
  • To become a part of the environmental action and advocacy committee, please click here
  • To follow elections and voting, email Nancy Brumback at nbrumback [at] lwvma.org