How Does the League of Women Voters
Establish Positions on Issues?
The League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula (LWVMP) may take action on an issue or advocate for a cause when we have a position that supports the issue or speaks to the cause. Without a position, action/advocacy can not be undertaken.
Positions result from a process of thorough study. Any given study, whether it be national, state, or local, is thorough in its pursuit of facts and details to examine all sides of an issue. As the study progresses, a continuing discussion of pros and cons of each situation occurs. Study committee members fashion consensus questions that are then addressed by the membership. Group discussion in a Unit Meeting, presentations and discussion at General Meetings, questionnaires, and telephone polls may be used as means to reach a League decision about an issue. Regardless of the method used, it is essential that members are informed before making a decision on the issue under discussion.
Two processes are used to form a position. Per the League of Women Voters of California these are:
Consensus: the collective opinion of a substantial number of League members, representative of the membership as a whole, after objective study of an issue.
Concurrence: agreement by League members with a position on an issue reached by a small group of members or by another League.
If the study was local, the LWVMP Board forms a position based on one of the two preceding processes, which is approved at the LWVMP's Annual Meeting and becomes a "position." Action or advocacy can then be taken on any particular issue within the scope of the position. The League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula cannot take positions that are in conflict with existing LWV of California or LWVUS positions. Existing local positions are reaffirmed each year at the League's Annual Meeting.
If the study was statewide or national, the final position is arrived at through a collation of viewpoints from, respectively, all California Leagues or all State Leagues, and the wording of the position is approved by either the LWVC or the LWVUS board and the delegates to the next convention. Existing State and national positions are reaffirmed biennially at the State and national conventions.
The LWVMP often takes action based on a vertical position. A vertical position is a position arrived at through a national, State, or Inter-League Organization study which has been approved for use at lower levels of the League without prior permission.
