Action and Advocacy

League of Women Voters^®
of North Coast San Diego County

We are a grassroots organization. Get Involved and speak to your Legislators on important issues.

Action. Become an E-Activist. Redistricting. Amicus Brief.

Action and Advocacy

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.
Click here for League recommendations on ballot issues of the June 2010 Election

Become an E-Activist

BECOME AN E-ACTIVIST**

Would you like to defend civil liberties? Do you want to help change elections in America? Do you want to clean up the money in politics? Would you fight for Social Security? Are you ready to protect reproductive choice? If so, then you can make a difference! It's easy to take action with the League: simply by e-mail.
Join the League's free online activist community and receive action alerts and legislative updates by e-mail. Our online activists sent more than 65,000 e-mails to the 108th Congress! Click here to sign up now and make your voice heard!
Advocacy involves making phone calls, writing letters and sending e-mails, working in coalitions, testifying before committees, meeting with elected officials, and hammering out practical and workable solutions which are the very nuts and bolts of League advocacy campaigns. A unique attribute of League brand of advocacy spanning 82 years is the activity of our members and state and local Leagues in their communities.

National Action Alerts

http://interactive.lwv.org/Issues/IssuesMain.cfm

Get Involved. Do you know who represents you in Congress? Does your Representative know what issues are important to you? Would you like to tell them?

Citizens Redistricting Commission

How Does Redistricting Work Now?

Every 10 years, after the Census, California's state legislature draws new district lines for U.S. House of Representative's seats and California Senate, Assembly and Board of Equilization seats.
The California Senate and Assembly hold hearings to receive public imput, then go behind closed doors to make the real deals. Some of the strangest shaped districts are ones where an incumbent moved the lines to create a safe district protected from any competition.
When the legislature and the govenor could not agree, the new districts were drawn by the courts [e.g. in 1971 and 1991]. These maps have seen the greatest competition and the largest increases in women and minorties.

Why switch to a Citizens Redistricting Commission

End closed door, secret deals to gerrymander our state's districts.
Ensure that redistricting follows clear criteria that priortize the Voting Rights Act, communities and cities.
End the current system of placing politicians ahead of voter's interests.

What Would Real Redistricting REFORM Include?

The Commision Should be Diverse and Politically Balanced

There must be political balance amongst Democrats, Republicans, and others.
The Commissioners should represent different regions of California, and reflect our ethnic, gender, and demographic diversity. The Hearing and Voting Process Must be Open and Fair
The Commission must hold public hearings around the state with enough notice for the people to be able to attend and testify about their communities.
Secret meetings that are "off the record" must be banned.
Redistricting should be done once a decade, after the release of new census data.

The Mapping Must Follow Redistricting Criteria
The Commission must draw the districts following these criteria in this order.

1. Make districts relatively equal in population
2. Respect the Voting Rights Act
3. Geographic Contiguity [a district has to be connected]
4. Respect Communities of Interest and City and County Boundaries

66% of California voters SUPPORT creating an INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISION to draw district lines instead of incumbent legislators

86% of California voters want an open process and an end to back room deals in redistricting

78% of California voters want a redistricting process that keeps their neighborhoods together and divided as little as possible

For more information

Amicus Brief Opposing Prop 8

The League of Women Voters of California filed an amicus brief with the California Supreme Court today supporting the legal challenge against Proposition 8. Proposition 8 amends the California Constitution to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. The legal challenge to Proposition 8, which passed on November 4, 2008, seeks to invalidate the proposition. Among those spearheading the challenge are the City and County of San Francisco, the County of Santa Clara, the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, and numerous individual Californians.
LWVC President Janis R. Hirohama said: "The League believes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional and should be invalidated. It sets a dangerous precedent by singling out a particular group and depriving that group of a fundamental right. In doing so it threatens the rights of us all."
The League's amicus brief argues that Proposition 8 is an invalid amendment to the California Constitution because it violates the overriding, fundamental constitutional principles of protection of equality and human dignity. The League also argues that Proposition 8 does not apply retroactively to invalidate same-sex marriages that took place before the measure took effect, because there is no clear indication of voter intent that it apply retroactively.
The LWVC has long opposed measures that threaten individual rights, including Proposition 22 in 2000, which also limited marriage to only being between a man and a woman. "We oppose Proposition 8 because we believe in protecting individual rights and no person or group should suffer legal discrimination," said Hirohama.
The law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP provided pro bono representation to the League in the filing of the amicus brief.
The Amicus Brief
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Founded in 1920, the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in the democratic process and influences public policy through education and advocacy. It does not support or oppose any political party or candidate.
For more information on the LWVC and our positions, visit http://www.lwvc.org.

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: September 2, 2010 17:27 PDT.