What is Non-Partisanship?
Definition of partisan (noun) 1 : a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person especially : one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance political partisans who see only one side of the problem (adjective) 1 : feeling, showing, or deriving from strong and sometimes blind adherence to a particular party, faction, cause, or person : exhibiting, characterized by, or resulting from partisanship
Definition of nonpartisan: not partisan especially: free from party affiliation, bias or designation.
Definition of political (adjective) 1 a: of or relating to government, a government, or the conduct of government b: of, relating to, or concerned with the making as distinguished from the administration of governmental policy 2: of, relating to, involving, or involved in politics and especially party politics 3: organized in governmental terms, political units 4: involving or charged or concerned with acts against a government or a political system political prisoners from Merriam Webster
The League of Women Voters is both nonpartisan and political
The League advocates for issues but does not support or oppose any candidates for office. Every League Board of Directors at each level is required to have a non-partisan policy. The League does not have a single policy that covers all Leagues. Each League board develops its own policy while following certain general guidelines of non-partisanship. An activity that may be allowed by one local League may be forbidden at the state or national level.
The purpose of the policy is NOT to prevent League board members from participating in the political activities. If that were the case, we could never recruit board members because board members tend to be active in community issues! The purpose of the policy is to assure that the League’s reputation as a non-partisan organization that the public can trust to provide good information about candidates remains intact. The policy applies not only to how our League conducts candidates forums but how we as a League speak out on issues.
Each year, the board of every League reviews its nonpartisan policy to make sure that it is still working for that League. The policy is not meant to cover every situation. The policy should not be so specific that there is no “wiggle room” or opportunity for discussion by the League board. Rather, the final decision about a situation falls upon the board. Some decisions will be easy; others will require prolonged discussion. In both situations, board members should have a good understanding of the purpose of the policy and its restrictions and use that information to guide its decisions.
Read the Non-partisan Policy of the LWV of the Cooperstown Area
