League of Women Voters Cross the Neutral Zone
So I got a letter today from the League of Women Voters. I thought it would be a message encouraging me to vote, which it was.
The surprise was that the LWV are taking sides in this letter on the term limits referendum, Measure 45.
Since we vote by mail here in Oregon, this might not seem as strange to some people. But most everywhere else in this country, the LVW are the people staffing the polling stations.
The LVW positions on these measures aside, does this creep anybody else out as much as it does me?
I thought this organization was all about getting out the vote, not getting votes for a particular political agenda.
Take a look at their web site – I am just as shocked as you are. They claim to not support one candidate or another, but their issues agenda makes it plain where their sympathies lie.
Two things Rich:
1. 501(c)3 organizations may take a position on measures but not candidates. I am not at all surprised that the LWV took a position on this measure. What other nonpartisan organization is better suited to examine the measure? Does any other organization in the state look at things like voting access or election laws like the LWV? There isn’t a political agenda (or at least one that is slanted toward any particular party) in the League’s statement.
(2) I can only speak to about the other state I’ve lived in for any length of time, New York. The LWV definitely does NOT staff the voting booths in NY. There is at least one volunteer from each major party at the polling stations in NY, verifying signatures and monitoring the voting machines. Any number of them could be LWV members but they are not there as League representatives.