Introduction to the League: Voters Service/Citizen Education
by the Administrative Vice President
The League's voter services activities are designed to provide citizens with unbiased, factual information that can be used as a basis for understanding the election process and reaching their own voting decisions. Leagues carry out a variety of voters service activities, which may include:
- Making registration and voting information available through a variety of means, including a web site, like www.smartvoter.org and our own www.lwvmp.org.
- Organizing voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns that target groups that have traditionally not participated in elections
- Publishing and distributing voters' guides and/or candidate questionnaires, often in foreign languages as well as in English, like the Easy Voter Guide and Pros and Cons
- Sponsoring candidate meetings, debates, and interviews
- Providing speakers on election issues, such as voting procedures and ballot measures
The League's citizen education activities, on the other hand, provide information on public issues, including those on which we have a position. By law and League policy, it is not necessary to present both sides of an issue in such situations. In other words, Leagues may educate the public about a particular point of view or "side" of an issue (e.g., a League could hold a forum about why the death penalty should be abolished without including experts/panelists in support of capital punishment).
Citizen education encompasses all of the other issue-related or process-related activities that Leagues undertake to help the public and members understand and participate in government and politics. For example, the League can sponsor or cosponsor meetings on government operations, the political process, or a hot issue in the community. It can join with educational or academic bodies in organizing and running high school, college, or adult education programs. It can work alone or with other groups to explore an issue or to provide political know-how about testifying, petitioning, or any other technique for getting something done in the community. It can also present educational forums about issues on which the League has a position, provided that the discussions focus on issues of concern rather than the merits of specific pieces of legislation, no lobbying takes place, and no call to action is issued.
The source for the above was www.lwvc.org and www.lwvmp.org.
