[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I would like to commemorate the League of 
Women Voters on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of its founding. 
Carrie Chapman Catt and many of the same women leaders who were part of 
the women's suffrage movement founded the League of Women Voters in 
Chicago on February 14, 1920, during the convention of the National 
American Woman Suffrage Association. The convention was held 6 months 
before the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The 
19th amendment, of course, gave women the right to vote after a 72-year 
struggle.
  According to the league's Web site:

       [T]he 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 was 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.

  The league is proudly nonpartisan; it neither supports nor opposes 
candidates or political parties at any level of government. But the 
league is actively engaged on issues of vital concern to its members 
and the broader public.
  The league has a long, rich history that grows more illustrious with 
each passing year. For the past 90 years, the league has played an 
active role in educating not just women but the entire American public 
about our democracy and about those individuals who are candidates for 
elective office. Carrie Chapman Catt founded the organization with a 
call to women of all parties and political leanings to come together in 
order to help pass legislation that would protect and aid major 
political movements in the future. Her nonpartisan organization would 
soon take on a prominent role in politics through its efforts on behalf 
of citizen education and advocacy. Today, there are more than 850 
chapters across the country advancing Carrie Chapman Catt's original 
idea, including 16 local leagues in Maryland.
  The League of Women Voters continues to play an important role in 
helping shape public policy by ensuring that the public is well-
informed. Not only has the league been active on the policy front, but 
it has helped make our democracy stronger by sponsoring debates that 
educate citizens and by making voter information easily accessible. The 
league's election information Web site--vote411.org--is an invaluable 
resource for many Americans, providing information on voter 
registration and on local, State, and national issues.
  The league has been instrumental in promoting democracy and civil 
society abroad, too. After World War II, for instance, the league 
supported efforts to establish the United Nations, U.N., and became one 
of the first organizations in the country officially recognized by the 
United Nations as a nongovernmental organization, NGO. The league also 
supported the creation of the World Bank, the International Monetary 
Fund, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Marshall plan. 
The league maintains official observer status at the U.N. today and has 
special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council. The 
league served as an NGO delegate to the United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change in December. Through its Global Democracy 
Program, the league has sponsored cultural exchange programs and 
leaders from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia, and 
Brazil.
  Throughout my career in public service, I have participated in many 
League of Women Voters debates, and I have seen first-hand the impact 
that the league has had on educating the voters about the issues that 
most directly affect them. We are a stronger democracy thanks to the 
continuing efforts of the League of Women Voters.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the profound impact the 
League of Women Voters has had on our Nation throughout its 90-year 
history. I look forward to working with the league in the future to 
ensure that Marylanders and all Americans have the information they 
need to make informed decisions on election day. And I welcome and 
support the league's ongoing efforts to ``export'' what is best about 
our democracy to countries around the world. We are fortunate indeed 
such an organization exists.

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