Welcome to our website. Members of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina are women and men living in communities across our beautiful state--from our mountains to our coast. Everyday, South Carolina's state and local Leagues and members at large engage in hands-on work to safeguard democracy and improve our communities. The LWV is citizen-powered democracy in action. We not only promote the values of representative democracy, we embody them.
The League is the original and preeminent grassroots citizens network, directed by the consensus of our members and committed to engaging citizens in our democracy so that it works for all Americans. Strictly nonpartisan, the League is at the same time wholeheartedly political and works to influence policy through advocacy.
In 2007, the LWW celebrates the 87th birthday of two great American landmarks: the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the League itself. The League of Women Voters, with its roots in the suffrage movement, was founded in anticipation of women winning the vote. This was a "mighty political experiment" designed to help 20 million women carry out their new responsibility as voters.
The League has made undeniable progress for all Americans during the past 87 years. The realization that half the population secured the right to vote--the most fundamental democratic freedom--only a single lifetime ago is a powerful reminder of how young American democracy is. Our democracy must be carefully nurtured and fiercely defended, both in principle and practice. Yet, there is no problem in our democracy that cannot be solved through the efforts of an informed, active citizenry.
Since our founding in 1920, protecting and promoting the right of every citizen to vote has been a guiding principle of the League. South Carolina's state and local Leagues sponsor debates and forums to educate voters about where candidates stand on important issues. We register voters, offer them nonpartisan information about issues and candidates, and promote voter turnout. Last year, along with a diverse coalition of groups, we mobilized to ensure the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. To ensure that citizens, not special interests, own government the LWV has been involved in campaign finance, lobbying and ethics reform efforts in the our state and nation.
The League does not endorse political parties or candidates, but undertakes meticulous analysis and study to arrive at member consensus on critical issues. Two recent LWVSC studies--of adult education and electronic voting in South Carolina--produced strong positions in support of access for all our citizens to education and to their right to vote and then have that vote counted fairly. League members in South Carolina are currently participating in the LWVUS study of immigration policy.
At our April 2007 state convention on Pawleys Island, members from across South Carolina adopted quality public education, protection of natural resources, election reform, education and rehabilitation of inmates in our criminal justice system as public policy priorities for LWVSC action in the coming biennium.
I invite you to explore websites for the LWVSC, LWVUS and local Leagues to find out all the exciting things that are happening. Contact me or any other League leader for more information. We'd love to have you attend any of our events. You'll see for yourself that the LWV is grassroots in reality, not just in name. Please join us in our efforts to make democracy work for all.
Barbara Zia
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