The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded on February 14, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote. Catt was also the founder and at the time the President of the International Alliance of Women.
The League of Women Voters began as a "mighty political experiment"
aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities
as voters. Originally, only women could join the league; but in 1973 the
charter was modified to include men. The league is a grassroots
organization with chapters in all 50 states plus the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The league has
approximately 150,000 members (as of 2006).[citation needed]
The League of Women Voters has as its official position that it is
strictly nonpartisan; it neither supports nor opposes candidates for
office at any level of government. At the same time, the League is
wholeheartedly political and works to influence policy through advocacy.
The league takes a stand on many political issues after studying them
and coming to a consensus on a position. The league works to increase
understanding of major public policy issues, and to influence public
policy through education and advocacy, as well as through political
lobbying of Congress.
The league is organized into two complementary halves: Voter service and citizen education; and program and action.