Action and Advocacy

We are truly a grassroots organization...

  2008 National Priorities.  2008 State Priorities.

The League of Women Voters takes action on an issue or advocates for a cause when there is an existing League position that supports the issue or speaks to the cause.

Positions result from a process of study. Any given study, whether it be National, State, or Local, is thorough in its pursuit of facts and details. As the study progresses, a continuing discussion of pros and cons of each situation occurs. Prior to the results of the study being presented to the general membership, study committee members fashion consensus questions that are then addressed by the membership.

Additional discussion, pro and con, takes place as members (not part of the study committee) learn the scope of the study. After the members reach consensus, the board forms positions based on that consensus.

It is the consensus statement -- the statement resulting from the consensus questions -- that becomes a position. Firm action or advocacy can then be taken on the particular issue addressed by the position. Without a position, action/advocacy cannot be taken.

Our 2008 National Priorities

• Campaign Finance Reform Escalating campaign costs drive out potential candidates and require those running for office to spend too much time raising money + too often from special interests. With passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, we now have an excellent opportunity to turn up the pressure for fundamental change in our campaign finance system. We need your help to pass the new McCain-Feingold-Durbin Free Air Time legislation. That legislation will require television and radio broadcast stations to provide free air time to candidates and political parties for political debate before elections.

• Civil Liberties There are fundamental principles that guard our liberty -- from independent judicial review of law enforcement actions to prohibitions on indiscriminate searches -- that must be preserved. Basic civil liberties must be protected as the nation seeks to guard against terrorism and other threats to national security.

• DC Voting Rights Citizens of the District of Columbia have no representation in the U.S. Senate and only a nonvoting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. A basic principle of democracy is at stake. U.S. citizens living in the capital of the free world deserve to have full voting representation in the bodies that make their laws, tax them and call them to war.

• Election Administration When the 2000 election exposed the many problems facing the election system, the League leaped into action. Bringing our coalition allies together, the League worked to ensure that key reforms were part of the congressional debate. With the League's special expertise, we argued for improved voting systems and machines, provisional balloting and other safeguards, and improvements in voter registration systems, poll worker training and administration.

• Ethics and Lobbying Reform The League of Women Voters supports legislation that would effectively reform the lobbying process and begin to rebuild public confidence in Congress. We want Congress to enact lobby reform legislation that sets new contribution and fundraising limits on lobbyists and lobbying firms; fundamentally changes the gift, travel and employment relationships among Members of Congress, lobbyists and lobbying firms; and institutes new and effective enforcement mechanisms. Congress needs an independent office or commission to oversee and enforce ethics rules and lobbying laws, receive allegations and complaints, conduct investigations and present cases to congressional ethics committees.

• Global Climate Change The League believes that now is the time to act on global climate change. We can reduce global warming pollution by using existing technologies to make power plants and factories more efficient, make cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline, and shift to cleaner technologies. Cities, states and individuals are already adopting many of these solutions, which also reduce our dependence on oil, reduce air pollution, and protect pristine places from oil drilling and mining. State and local initiatives are proving that answers exist. To reinforce and expand on those efforts, the League urges federal action that reduces global warming pollutants on a national and global scale.

• Health Care Reform The League believes that quality, affordable health care should be available to all U.S. residents. Other U.S. health care policy goals should include the equitable distribution of services, efficient and economical delivery of care, advancement of medical research and technology, and a reasonable total national expenditure level for health care. Furthermore, the League believes that all Americans should have access to a basic level of care that includes the prevention of disease, health promotion and education, primary care (including prenatal and reproductive health), acute care, long-term care and mental health care.

Our 2008 State Priorities

Each year, the League of Women Voters of Mississippi selects public policy priorities and advocates for these positions through an informed membership and a volunteer lobby corps.

Action is often taken on non-priority items too as time allows. Action is also taken on threats to Leagues long held positions when necessary.

• Early Education We support quality early childhood education programs serving children from all socioeconomic levels. We support the implementation of high quality ECE goals.

• Children at Risk We support early intervention and preventative measures to be more effective in helping children reach their full potential. We support policy programs that promote the well- being, encourage the full development, and ensure the safety of all children.

• Cigarette Tax Increase We support controlling health care costs. We support raising the excise tax on cigarettes by $l.00 to decrease smoking levels that will make a significant improvement in smoking-related illnesses.

• Campaign Finance We support the improvement of methods of financing political campaigns to ensure the public's right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to complete more equitably for public office and allow maximum citizen participation in the public process.

• Oppose Voter ID We support the right of every citizen to vote. We believe that voting is a fundamental citizen right that must be guaranteed. We oppose any action that may limit voter participation.

• Judiciary Selection Supreme Court and Court of Appeals--NEW POSITION We support Merit Selection/Election Retention as the means of selecting justices for the Mississippi Supreme Court and judges for the Mississippi Court of Appeals.

• Food Taxes We support the elimination of the regressive tax on food in Mississippi.

• Tobacco Trust Fund We support efforts to replace the $240 million taken from the tobacco settlement trust fund in 2005 for a Medicaid shortage as required by law.

• Immigration We support the national position on Immigration. We have been involved in the process of developing a national position statement which will be available soon.

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: April 25, 2008 23:34 PDT.

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