Skip to main content
PO Box 4041
Bellingham, WA 98227-4041
360-305-3523
info@lwvbellinghamwhatcom.org

Contact Us
Copyright © 2021 • All Rights Reserved • Terms of Use Privacy Policy • Powered by ClubExpress
HomeMission/History

Mission & History

Mission:  Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.

The League of Women Voters®, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.


History of the League


The League of Women Voters® was founded by Carrie Chapman Catt in 1920 during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The convention was held just six months before the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote after a 72-year struggle.

The League began as a "mighty political experiment" designed to help 20 million women carry out their new responsibilities as voters. It encouraged them to use their new power to participate in shaping public policy. From the beginning, the League has been an activist, grassroots organization whose leaders believed that citizens should play a critical role in advocacy. It was then, and is now, a nonpartisan organization. League founders believed that maintaining a nonpartisan stance would protect the fledgling organization from becoming mired in the party politics of the day. However, League members were encouraged to be political themselves, by educating citizens about, and lobbying for, government and social reform legislation.

“I first joined my local League around 1967, when I was a young housewife - I wanted to learn about my community and to talk about more than just diapers and babies. "

— Judy Corliss

But Who Really Got the Vote?


League founder Carrie Chapman Catt once said the League was formed to “finish the fight” to win women’s suffrage nationally. Yet within the struggle for the right to vote, we left many of our sisters behind when the fight for the 19th Amendment didn’t explicitly include securing those rights for women of color in every one of these United States. That struggle continued for decades until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In the Centennial year of the League, we celebrated the founding of the League, the work that has been ongoing for the last 100 years, and the work that will continue into the future.  

Read More >>

The League was founded to help women use their vote

Bellingham/Whatcom County League

 

The League of Women Voters of Bellingham was founded in 1956 and it later became the League of Women Voters of Bellingham/Whatcom County.

The League has been an active and positive influence in our county since its founding. The League is a grassroots organization and depends on our members and volunteers to implement our programs.

In 2020, League volunteers conducted the "52 Women of Whatcom" project, to highlight the many contributions of women in Whatcom County.  For more information, visit our "52 Women of Whatcom" page..

Membership is open to men and women and we invite you to attend our events and meet us to learn more.

Learn more about membership.