LWVUS Impact on Issues 2022-2024
Summary of Public Policy Positions
League of Women Voters® of the United States
REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT
Promote an open governmental system that is representative, accountable, and responsive.
Voting Rights
Citizen’s Right to Vote. Protect the right of all citizens to vote; encourage all citizens to vote.
DC Self-Government and Full Voting Representation. Secure for the citizens of the District of Columbia the rights of self-government and full voting representation in both houses of Congress.
Election Process
Apportionment. Support apportionment of congressional districts and elected legislative bodies at all levels of government based substantially on population.
Redistricting. Support redistricting processes and enforceable standards that promote fair and effective representation at all levels of government with maximum opportunity for public participation.
Money in Politics. (formerly Campaign Finance) Support campaign finance/MIP regulations that enhance political equality for all citizens, ensure transparency, protect representative democracy from distortion by undisclosed contributions and big money, and combat corruption and undue influence in government. Support campaign spending that is restricted but not banned. Support public financing, full disclosure, abolishing super PACs, and creating an effective enforcement agency.
Selection of the President. Promote the election of the President and Vice-President by direct popular vote. Support uniform national voting qualifications and procedures for presidential elections. Support efforts to provide voters with sufficient information about candidates.
Voter Representation/Electoral Systems. Support electoral systems at each level of government that encourage participation, are verifiable and auditable, and enhance representation for all voters.
Citizen Rights
Citizen’s Right to Know/Public Participation. Protect the citizen’s right to know and facilitate informed understanding and public participation in government decision-making.
Individual Liberties. Oppose major threats to basic constitutional rights.
Public Policy on Reproductive Choices. Protect the constitutional right of privacy of the individual to make reproductive choices.
Evaluating Constitutional Amendment Proposals and Constitutional Conventions
Amendment Proposals. Consider whether a proposal addresses matters of abiding importance, makes our political system more democratic, protects individual rights, could be achieved by a constitutional amendment or legislative proposal, and is consistent with other League positions.
Constitutional Conventions. Hold constitutional conventions only when certain conditions are in place, including limited to a specific topic, full transparency, delegates selected by population, and voting by delegates not by states.
Congress and the Presidency
Congress. Support responsive legislative processes characterized by accountability, representativeness, decision-making capability, effective performance, and transparency.
The Presidency. Promote a dynamic balance of power between the executive and legislative branches within the framework set by the Constitution.
Privatization
Ensure transparency, accountability, positive community impact, and preservation of the common good when considering the transfer of governmental services, assets, and/or functions to the private sector.
Digital Equity
High-speed affordable internet access is an essential service that should be readily available to all US residents and businesses.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Promote peace in an interdependent world by working cooperatively with other nations and strengthening international organizations.
United Nations
Support a strong, effective United Nations to promote international peace and security and to address the social, economic, and humanitarian needs of all people.
Trade
Support US trade policies that reduce trade barriers; expand international trade; and advance the achievement of humanitarian, environmental, and social goals.
Developing Countries
Promote US policies that meet long-term social and economic needs of developing countries.
Arms Control
Reduce the risk of war through support of arms control measures.
Military Policy and Defense Spending
Work to limit reliance on military force. Examine defense spending in the context of total national needs.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Promote an environment beneficial to life through the protection and wise management of natural resources in the public interest.
Resource Management
Promote the management of natural resources as interrelated parts of life-supporting ecosystems. Promote resource conservation, stewardship, and long-range planning, with the responsibility for managing natural resources shared by all levels of government. Preserve the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the ecosystem with maximum protection of public health and the environment.
Environmental Protection and Pollution Control
The League supports the preservation of the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the ecosystem and maximum protection of public health and the environment.
Air Quality. Promote measures to reduce pollution from mobile and stationary sources.
Energy. Support environmentally sound policies that reduce energy growth rates, emphasize energy conservation, and encourage the use of renewable resources.
Land Use. Promote policies that manage land as a finite resource and that incorporate principles of stewardship.
Water. Support measures to reduce pollution in order to protect surface water, groundwater, and drinking water, and set up a process to evaluate inter-basin water transfers.
Waste Management. Promote policies to reduce the generation of solid and hazardous wastes and promote their reuse and recycling.
Nuclear. Promote the maximum protection of public health and safety and the environment.
Transfer of Federal Public Lands
Promote policies that keep federal public lands under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
Climate Change
Support climate goals and policies that are consistent with the best available climate science and that will ensure a stable climate system for future generations.
Public Participation
Promote public understanding and participation in decision making as essential elements of responsible and responsive management of our natural resources.
Federal Agriculture Policies
Support environmentally sound farm practices, and increased reliance on the free market while promoting adequate supplies of food at reasonable prices and regulations to all animal and aquaculture production. Enforce federal antitrust laws to ensure competitive agricultural markets, provide financial support to subsidize agriculture in specific instances. Support the federal government’s funding of basic agricultural research to ensure adequate safety of our food supply.
SOCIAL POLICY
Secure equal rights and equal opportunity for all. Promote social and economic justice and the health and safety of all Americans.
Criminal Justice
Support a criminal justice system that is just, effective, equitable, transparent, and that fosters public trust at all stages, including policing practices, pre-trial procedures, sentencing, incarceration, and re-entry.
Equality of Opportunity
Equal Rights. Support ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and efforts to bring laws into compliance with the goals of the ERA. Support equal rights for all under state and federal law regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or disability.
Education, Employment, and Housing. Support equal access to education, employment, and housing.
Federal Role in Public Education. Support federal policies that provide an equitable, quality public education for all children from pre-K through grade 12.
Fiscal Policy
Federal Deficit. Promote responsible deficit policies.
Funding of Entitlements. Support a federal role in providing mandatory, universal, old-age, survivors, disability, and health insurance.
Tax Policy. Support adequate and flexible funding of federal government programs through an equitable tax system that is progressive overall and that relies primarily on a broad-based income tax.
Health Care
Promote a health care system for the United States that provides affordable access to a basic level of quality care for all US residents, including behavioral health that is integrated with and achieves parity with the physical health care system.
Immigration
Promote reunification of immediate families; meet the economic, business, and employment needs of the United States; be responsive to those facing political persecution or humanitarian crises; and provide for student visas. Ensure fair treatment under the law for all persons. In transition to a reformed system, support provisions for individuals already living in the country without legal permission to earn legal status.
Meeting Basic Human Needs
Support programs and policies to prevent or reduce poverty and to promote self-sufficiency for individuals and families.
Income Assistance. Support income assistance programs, based on need, that provide decent, adequate standards for food, clothing, and shelter.
Support Services. Provide essential support services.
Housing. Support policies to provide a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.
Child Care
Support programs and policies to expand the supply of affordable, quality child care for all who need it.
Early Intervention for Children at Risk
Support policies and programs that promote the well-being, development, and safety of all children.
Violence Prevention
Support violence prevention programs in communities.
Gun Policy
Protect the health and safety of citizens through limiting the accessibility and regulating the ownership of handguns and semi-automatic weapons. Support regulation of firearms for consumer safety.
Urban Policy
Promote the economic health of cities and improve the quality of urban life.
Death Penalty
Support abolition of the death penalty.
Sentencing Policy
Support the exploration and utilization of alternatives to imprisonment, taking into consideration the circumstances and nature of the crime. Oppose mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.
Human Trafficking
Oppose all forms of domestic and international human trafficking of adults and children, including sex trafficking and labor trafficking.
Whatever the issue, the League believes that efficient and economical government requires competent personnel, the clear assignment of responsibilities, adequate financing, coordination among levels of government, effective enforcement, and well-defined channels for citizen input and review.
Principles of the League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters believes in representative government and in the individual liberties established in the Constitution of the United States. The League of Women Voters of the United States believes that all powers of the US government should be exercised within the constitutional framework of a balance among the three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.
The League of Women Voters believes that democratic government depends upon informed and active participation in government and requires that governmental bodies protect the citizen’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions, holding open meetings, and making public records accessible.
The League of Women Voters believes every citizen should be protected in the right to vote; every person should have access to free public education that provides equal opportunity for all; and no person or group should suffer legal, economic, or administrative discrimination.
The League of Women Voters believes efficient and economical government requires competent personnel, the clear assignment of responsibility, adequate financing, and coordination among the different agencies and levels of government.
The League of Women Voters believes responsible government should be responsive to the will of the people; government should maintain an equitable and flexible system of taxation, promote the conservation and development of natural resources in the public interest, share in the solution of economic and social problems that affect the general welfare, promote a sound economy, and adopt domestic policies that facilitate the solution of international problems.
The League of Women Voters believes cooperation with other nations is essential in the search for solutions to world problems and that development of international organization and international law is imperative in the promotion of world peace.
A printable file of Summary of 2022-2024 LWVUS Public Policy Positions, including the LWV Principles.
