advocacy Archives

New Directory of Elected Officials – Your Voice Counts

Want to ask or comment about what’s happening in your community? Concerned about state and national issues? Download your copy of the July 1 edition of the LWVPDX Multnomah County Directory of Elected Officials here.

The Directory of Elected Officials has phone numbers, email addresses and websites for government officials serving the people of Multnomah County. We just updated it by adding the new school board members who took office on July 1.

You can find how to contact President Trump, your U.S. Senators and Representatives, as well as state legislators, county, and city officials. You have a right to speak out on issues that concern you. Let your government know your questions and thoughts.

More Info

You can also find information in this directory about registering to vote. And there’s more contact info on this website under Advocate, Contact Elected Officials and also lots of voting info under Vote.

Make your voice heard and your vote count with information from the League of Women Voters!

The LWV Way: Study First!

Early LWV History

(Excerpts from More Power than We Knew, A History of the League of Women Voters of Oregon: 1920-2012)

“In 1920, when the 19^th Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted, Oregon women already had the right to vote…In 1912, Oregon became the ninth state to grant full suffrage to women.”

When the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NASWA) held its 50^th anniversary convention in March 1919, “The call to the convention included an invitation to ‘the women voters of the fifteen full suffrage states*…to join their forces in a League of Women Voters, one of whose objects shall be to speed the suffrage campaign in our own and other countries.’”… “(T)he governing council of the new League decided to recommend as its first activity a study of state laws having to do with education and the legal status of women. That recommendation set the pattern the League was to follow all its life—study first, then action.”

Today –

“Study first, then action.” This is the process the League of Women Voters has followed since its beginning. Our activities are based upon thorough, balanced studies of public policy issues.

We offer nonpartisan and unbiased information to voters through our voter service activities, such as election forums, debates and carefully researched voting guides.
We conduct multiyear studies of governmental, environmental and social issues. Our study committees read relevant research and interview experts and advocates representing many different viewpoints. The committees publish reports about what they have learned. LWV members and the public can read these reports online or in print.
When LWV members discuss a study, they may come to an agreement about how to address the issues. Their discussions lead to our advocacy positions

The League of Women Voters of Portland is now finishing a restudy of Portland’s City Government. The League of Women Voters of Oregon recently completed a study of Hard Rock Mining in Oregon. Also, LWVOR members just voted to study Cyber Security and Privacy and Pesticides and other Biocides in Oregon. You can read about all these studies here. Then you can view our advocacy positions, based on previous studies, here.

*States granting women the right to vote prior to the 19th Amendment: Wyoming 1890, Colorado 1893, Utah 1896, Idaho 1896, Washington 1910, California 1911, Arizona 1912, Kansas 1912, Oregon 1912, Montana 1914, Nevada 1914, New York 1917, Michigan 1918, Oklahoma 1918, South Dakota 1918

Source: National Constitution Center

Lobbying the Oregon Legislature

The Oregon 2019 Legislative session is in full swing, with committees meeting now to make decisions about state services and the Oregon 2019-2021 budget! Is there a program you want funded? A bill you think should be passed or defeated? Our 18-minute Highlights video on Lobbying the Legislature has many tips for how you can make your voice heard.

You also can learn about what’s happening in the Legislature and the Oregon League’s priorities and advocacy by clicking here and here.

Thanks, Awesome Volunteers!

More than 100 League members and nonmember volunteers worked on the 2017-18 activities of the League of Women Voters of Portland. They were honored at our May 2018 Convention. We also honored our Volunteer of the Year, Peggy Bengry. See the article about her service here.

voter service volunteers

For the 2018 Primary Election, League volunteers produced and distributed our nonpartisan Multnomah County Voters’ Guide. They composed substantive questions for the candidates and researched the ballot measure on the Children’s Levy; they entered contact information for candidates on Vote411.org and invited the candidates to participate; they edited and proofread the drafts, and carried bundles of the printed guides to libraries and other places where voters could find them. Other volunteers organized our forums, invited and hosted the candidates, arranged for video recordings, moderated the forums and timed the candidates’ statements to make sure all candidates had an equal chance to state their positions. Another group of volunteers organized and conducted the interviews for our Video Voters’ Guide.

Civic Education volunteers

Throughout the year, volunteers also organized and moderated our monthly civic education panel discussions. (These panel discussions were recorded and may be viewed on our YouTube channel as the complete programs or as shorter Highlights.) Volunteers also began a two-year re-study of Portland’s City Government. Other members participated in small “unit” discussion groups and started interest groups to learn about civic issues and help us plan for future civic education events, as well as for advocacy.

Advocacy volunteers

Action Committee volunteers studied the issues that will affect the future of our city, county, and Metro area, and, when the Portland City Council debated issues related to our positions on city planning, government transparency, police accountability and water quality, our Advocacy Team sent letters and testified before the Council.

Volunteer hours are worth a lot!

Some volunteers contribute five or ten hours of their time a year; others contribute 250 to 1,500 hours a year. All together our volunteers donated at least 8,000 hours of their time in the past year. Their time (at $24.14/hour) was worth more than $193,000!

We are grateful to all our dedicated, hard-working and talented volunteers! If YOU would like to help us in the year ahead, when we will be preparing information for the 2018 General Election and for our 2018-19 Civic Education Panel Discussions, please click here.

Thanks, Donors!

Why we need help

The League of Women Voters of Portland is a low-budget nonpartisan volunteer organization. We depend heavily on donations from individuals, businesses and foundations to support the work of our Education Fund, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization. We also need support for member services and for the advocacy work of our 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization.

What you can do

Please consider clicking on the donate buttons to help us pay for the voter services we provide for every election and for our monthly civic education panel discussions. Or as a member, you can volunteer to help with voter services and civic education or to advocate with our Action Team for better government and the rights of the people of Portland and Multnomah County.

Thanks to members, Businesses and foundations for their support

We are grateful to the many League members who donated to our Education Fund in May to help us Meet the Match! We were also helped in 2018 by Portland area businesses: Vernier Software and Technology, MetroEast Community Media, The Neil Kelly Company, and Paloma Clothing. In addition, we recently have received grants from the Carol & Velma Saling Foundation, the Wyss Foundation, the Walsh Foundation, the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust, and the Multnomah Bar Foundation to expand our educational work. These donations and grants will help us reach more people throughout the Portland area with our educational services.