League of Women Voters (LWV)

The League of Women Voters, its affiliates, and its associated 501(c)(3) “educational” arm, the League of Women Voters Education Fund, has received support from left-of-center donors such as the Ford Foundation, George Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society, the New York State United Teachers government worker labor union,⁵ and the Tides Foundation.⁶

History

Carrie Chapman Catt called for the creation of the League of Women Voters in 1919. The following year, during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and six months before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, the League of Women Voters was formally organized.⁷

The League of Women Voters was originally created to help women carry out their new right to vote and to encourage them to use their new voting to participate in shaping public policy through “non-partisan” grassroots advocacy. ⁸

Maud Wood Park was elected as the first president of the League, and by 1924, there were local leagues organized in 346 of the then-433 congressional districts. ⁸

Background

The League of Women Voters is organized at three levels: local, state and national. At each level, a volunteer president and board of directors govern the League.² League members belong to the local, state, and national levels of the League. ⁹

The League of Women Voters claims that its national network includes 700+ state and local chapters across 50 states, implementing its program through those state and local organizations.¹⁰

The national League of Women Voters organization maintains two legal entities to carry out its mission. The League of Women Voters United States (LWVUS) and nearly all state and local Leagues are 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organizations allowed to intervene in elections within limits. The League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) is organized as a 501(c)(3) organization able to receive tax-deductible and foundation contributions in exchange for strict limits on its electoral activities. According to the League’s bylaws, the Education fund carries out issue education and advocacy programs while the League’s traditional lobbying activities must be funded through the LWVUS 501(c)(4). ²

Financials

According to the League of Women Voters’s 2023-24 fiscal year tax returns, the group had $8,132,456 in revenue, $7,905,497 in expenses, and $4,942,995 in net assets. ¹¹

The group spent $2,198,950 on program services communications, $1,032,720 on advocacy, $529,477 on financing its convention and council meetings, $427,549 on helping state and local chapters to recruit, $377,904 supporting voter registration activities, and $92,072 for “external affairs.” ¹¹

The group gave a $10,000 grant to the ERA Coalition Inc. which supports the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. The group gave $70,300 in grants to state chapters. ¹¹

Activities

Left-of-Center Advocacy

League of Women Voters of the United States claims that as a non-partisan advocacy organization it takes positions on issues but does not support or oppose any political party or candidate (appointed or elected) for public office. ²

However, the national League and its state and local chapters have consistently faced criticisms that it is a left-leaning organization operating under the guise of non-partisanship. In 1955, following the League’s formation, the conservative magazine National Review criticized the group for allegedly favoring left-of-center advocacy and social experimentation in its founding statement. ¹² In 1995 California Republicans claimed that the League “is not the nonpartisan policy analyzer it claims to be but rather a group rife with liberal bias.”¹³

In 2014, former Wyoming state Rep. Clark Stith (R-Rock Springs), then a candidate for Wyoming Secretary of State, criticized the League, stating that he would skip a LWVUS sponsored candidates’ forum due to the group’s “leftward slant.” ¹⁴ That same year, in a 2014 editorial, Florida state right-of-center journalist Nancy Smith of Sunshine State News wrote that the “League of Women Voters Is Partisan as They Come” and noted that it wasn’t until recently that “League leaders began to emphasize their “other” role — claiming the organization is ‘wholeheartedly political and works to influence policy through advocacy.’ ¹⁵

The league has faced similar criticisms of left-of-center bias from Republicans and Conservative groups in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, and West Virginia. ⁶

According to the Washington Examiner, in July 2021 the Biden Administration hosted a videoconference call with representatives of the LWV along with several other left-of-center voter advocacy groups to discuss increasing voter registration within the United States. Topics discussed on the call reportedly included “registering illegal immigrants and integrating voter registration into public housing as a requirement under federal law.”  ¹⁶ Notes on the meeting were provided by the Washington Examiner through the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) and the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. Other groups involved in the call included the Open Society Policy Center, End Citizens United, Democracy Fund, Demos, and the Sentencing Project. ¹⁶

First Trump Administration

After the 2016 election, the League of Women Voters issued a press release claiming the election had been compromised by alleged voter suppression. The statement argued “Tight margins in some key elections show that suppression may play a role” including in states like Wisconsin that Trump won. ¹⁷

The League was a partner organization in the “Women’s March on Washington,” organized to occur on President Donald Trump‘s swearing-in ceremony on January 20, 2017 to oppose the incoming First Trump Administration as well as support for left-of-center policies. ¹⁸

The League also criticized and denounced several actions that took place during the First Trump Administration, opposing his decision to approve the Keystone Pipeline,¹⁹ his temporary bar on the admission of nationals of certain countries into the United States,²⁰ his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate deal,²¹ his decision to the Obama administration policy of protecting certain illegal immigrants from deportation,²² his decision allowing employers to opt-out of providing abortion coverage under Obamacare,²³ and his plan to repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan.²⁴

Second Trump Administration

In September 2025, the League, the League of Women Voters of Louisiana (LWVLA), the League of Women Voters of Virginia (LWVVA), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the second Trump administration’s consolidation of data in personal databases. The League claimed, “the defendants’ opaque consolidation of Americans’ personal data from multiple agencies without statutorily required notice to the public and Congress violates several laws, including the Administrative Procedure Act and the Privacy Act of 1974.” The League also claimed that the consolidation of data was outside the government’s legal authority and violated separation of powers. ²⁵

In November 2025, the League joined with the League of Women Voters of North Carolina and the League of Women Voters of Charlotte–Mecklenburg in condemning immigration enforcement operations in Charlotte, North Carolina. The statement accused federal immigration authorities of engaging in racial profiling and forcing businesses to close. The statement ends with links to phone numbers and websites for anti-ICE organizations while urging undocumented migrants to contact them if they were detained by immigration enforcement authorities. ²⁶

In November 2025, the League, along with the League of Women Voters Education Fund, and several of its state and local chapters sued the Department of Homeland Security over its decision to ban the League from conducting voter registration drives at naturalization ceremonies. The U.S. government banned nongovernmental groups from being present at the ceremonies but permitted state and local government officials to provide information and voter registration services. “The Ban discriminates — based on viewpoint, content, and the identity of the speaker — against speech promoting the right to vote for new citizens,” the plaintiffs alleged in their court filings. The U.S. government alleged that the ban was put in place because it was an “administrative burden” to determine how nonpartisan specific groups were. ²⁷

In November 2025, the League released a statement attacking President Donald Trump for criticizing Democratic lawmakers who urged U.S. military members to refuse “illegal orders” and accusing them of “seditious behavior,” deeming the President’s statement “an authoritarian threat that shatters every democratic norm.” The League attacked President Trump for dividing the country and refusing to defend democracy. ²⁸

In December 2025, the League urged the U.S. Senate to reject requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote. The League released a statement, claiming, “Documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) requirements violate the National Voter Registration Act and have been declared an unlawful mandate in case after case including Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Ariz., Inc., Fish v. Kobach, LWV v. Newby, and Kobach v. EAC.” It further alleged, “It is completely unnecessary to require citizenship documentation to register to vote, as it would certainly result in millions of voters being prevented from voting and voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering.” ²⁹

Also in December 2025, the League released a statement opposing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow mid-decade redistricting maps enacted by Texas to stand. The group claimed the map was an illegal gerrymander, alleging “The League is outraged by the politicization of redistricting and manipulation of voters as political pawns. Allowing this map to remain in place for the next election signals a dangerous tolerance for authoritarian tactics in how political power is drawn and justified.” ³⁰

Also in December 2025, the League signed on a letter by the National Women’s Law Center which called for an extension of the temporary enhanced Obamacare subsidies which were originally passed as a COVID-19 pandemic-relief measure in 2021 and extended further by the Inflation Reduction Act spending bill in 2022. The letter claimed, “If these enhanced PTCs expire, the health and economic consequences will be devastating to women and low- and middle-income people. It is expected that Marketplace out-of-pocket premiums will skyrocket by over 75% if the enhanced PTCs expire.” The letter claimed it would be more difficult for women to get insurance, “particularly women of color, and low- and middle-income people” if the subsidies expired. ³¹

Issue Agenda

The League of Women Voters (LWVUS) maintains a policy platform that expresses their opinion on left-of-center domestic and international social issues. ³

LLWVUS supports left-of-center taxation and spending policies. It opposes a federal balanced budget amendment and support deficit spending while at the same time calling for a left-of-center tax system³² LWVUS has opposed the tax cuts passed by the George W. Bush administration, while preferring President Bill Clinton’s plan to use the government surplus of the late 1990s to pay for various government programs relating to health care and the environment. During the First Trump Administration, began advocating for low-income handouts paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy.³³ Additionally, the League has supported increasing taxes on capital gains.³⁴

On health care, “the League supports increased taxes to finance a basic level of health care for all U.S. residents.” LWVUS has advocated for a government-controlled health care system provide every U.S. resident access to “basic level of health care” that includes among other things reproductive health care, long-term care, and mental health care.³⁵ LWVUS’ health care platform also contains non-typical health items, including a call for housing for the chronically homeless and specialty drug courts to help drug users avoid the criminal justice system.³⁶

LWVUS supports a broad array of simplified welfare programs including food stamps, housing subsidies, and health care subsidies based on the recipients “declaration of need.” LWVUS also supports universal child care for all who need it. LWVUS supports expanding participation in Social Security, and opposes reforms that would allow beneficiaries to opt-out and use private benefits.³³

On immigration, the league supports legalization of status for illegal immigrants already in the country, opposes deportations for non-criminal illegal immigrants, and supports federal financial handouts to communities impacted by large illegal immigrant populations. In 2010, the League lobbied in support of the proposed DREAM Act, which would have regularized the status of certain classes of illegal immigrants. ³⁷

On education, LWVUS calls for a top-down nationalized education program through a national assessment, broad common standards, and a suggested national curriculum.  The league “opposes vouchers” and opposes tax credits for private education. It demands education handouts to disadvantaged groups beginning at the pre-kindergarten level and argues that the federal government has the responsibility to support access to student health care and free or reduced lunch programs.³⁸

LWVUS claims that the carrying of concealed firearms and private ownership of modern sporting rifles are a major threat and supports measures to limit access to and ownership of those weapons by private citizens. Among these restrictions, the League supports background checks, waiting periods, and annual license renewals. ³⁹

LWVUS has filed numerous amicus briefs and has been an outspoken advocate for affirmative action programs and policies in public employment. ³⁸ In 2004 and 2006, the league opposed the “Federal Marriage Amendment,” which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and called for “legislation to equalize the legal rights” of same-sex couples. ³⁸

LWVUS opposes the death penalty, opposes mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealers, and advocates for alternatives to prison.⁴⁰

LWVUS also supports a left-of-center international relations platform that includes strengthening the United Nations, ⁴¹ a significant increase in financial handouts to developing countries,⁴² a reduction in American defensive arms and nuclear weapons,⁴³ and a decrease in U.S. military spending.⁴⁴

In 2024, the League launched its One Person One Vote campaign to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a national popular vote. The group called the Electoral College “a threat to democracy.” ⁴⁵

Environmental Platform

The League’s action platform supports left-of-center policies, calling the Obama administration’s climate change policies, the “cornerstone of which caps carbon emissions from both new and existing power plants.” ⁴⁶ Additionally, the League supports “putting a price on carbon,” a carbon tax.⁴⁶

The League’s environmental platform called for reliance on weather-dependent energy, a limit on nuclear energy, government incentive handouts to green energy companies, and mandatory energy conservation requirements such as new appliance and auto-emission standards. LWVUS also calls for a wide-variety of left-of-center land and water conservation measures ⁴⁷ and has opposed drilling in the Arctic along with the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. ⁴⁸

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 20 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ⁴⁹ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ⁵⁰

The League of Women Voters was one of more than 600 left-of-center organizations that signed on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ⁴

The League’s 2018-2020 policy positions guide stated that the organization generally opposed “increased reliance on nuclear fission” for electrical power production. The policy document stated that state and local affiliates are permitted to “oppose licensing for construction of nuclear power plants based of the national position.” The document did not permit the affiliates to support expansion of nuclear-energy production unless the affiliate had obtained “prior permission from the national board.” ⁵¹

Advocacy & Lobbying Activities

League staff advocate before Congress and federal executive agencies. In Fiscal Year 2023-24, the League spent $1,032,720 on advocacy and $92,072 on “external relations.” ¹¹

Left-of-center legislation they have lobbied for includes the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017, the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act of 2016, the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014, and against the Repeal of Obamacare Act of 2012. ¹

On September 13, 2018, the LWV accused then-Judge and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of not “demonstrat[ing] a commitment to protect voters” for taking positions which run “counter to the League’s principles. ^{52 53}

Funding

The League, its charitable arm, and its many affiliates receive have received funding from left-of-center sources such as George Soros’s principal philanthropies, Open Society Institute (or the Open Society Foundations) and Foundation to Promote Open Society. ⁵⁴

Additionally the Joyce Foundation, which once claimed future President Barack Obama as a board member, was noted to be the League’s largest benefactor from 1998 through 2015, giving over $4.2 million to LWV-associated entities. ⁵⁴

According to the Capital Research Center, other left-of-center donors to the League have included the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Tides Foundation. ⁵⁴

Among the League’s “transformational” donors in 2024 was NEO Philanthropy. ⁴⁵

People

Dianna Wynn is the League’s president, having been elected in 2024. She first joined the board in 2022 as the League’s vice president. Prior to joining the national League’s board, she was president of League of Women Voters of Wake County in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a former president of the ACLU of North Carolina. She works as a communications consultant who works with governments, nonprofits, and businesses. ⁵⁵

Celina Stewart is the CEO of the League, having been appointed in August 2024 She first joined the League in 2018 as its director of advocacy and litigation. Among the campaigns she oversaw as its director of advocacy was the group’s work on redistricting and the campaign to support eliminating the Electoral College. Prior to joining the League, she was the director of philanthropy at FairVote. Prior to joining FairVote, she served as a staffer in the Michigan Legislature and served as legal counsel to then-Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D). She also worked as the executive director for the Congressional Black Caucus’s 21^st Century Council. ⁵⁶