2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment, championed by the women’s suffrage movement. This year we also celebrate the 100th anniversary of The League of Women Voters (LWV). 

LWV is a direct result of 70 years of hard work by different women’s groups.  A similar organization was first proposed in 1909, by ‘The Mother of Women’s Suffrage’ Emma Smith DeVoe from Tacoma. However, it would be another decade before the LWV was formally proposed at the National American Woman Suffrage Association in St. Louis. It was officially founded at the next convention in Chicago on February 14, 1920; six months before the 19th amendment would be ratified and signed into law. 

The League is proud to be nonpartisan, neither supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties at any level of government, but always working on vital issues of concern to members and the public.  If you (man or woman) believe in empowering voters, defending democracy, and envision a country where everyone has the desire, right, knowledge, and confidence to participate, contact the League of Women Voters of Benton and Franklin Counties to join or ask questions.