Feel Good Friday - League of Women Voters

It may be hard to believe but this Feel Good Friday we're going to talk about something both election-related and positive: the League of Women Voters.

As explained on their website, "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."

The League was founded in 1920 by Carrie Champan Catt, six months before the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote, was ratified. You can take a deeper dive into their history and click this link to see photos through the decades.

The mission of the League is "making democracy work". One of the ways they do that is through protecting voters. This includes ensuring compliance with laws like the Voting Rights act, as well as modernizing voting systems and expanding both early voting and online voter registration.

Speaking of which, "The League is one of the nation's largest and most longstanding community based voter registration groups." Once they've got you registered, they can get you educated. The website http://www.vote411.org/ will populate with detailed information for your area once you input your address.

You can also use this directory find a local league to get information on issues affecting your city and state. For example the League of Women Voters San Francisco hosts candidate forums as well as publishes both an Easy Voter Guide for the California statewide initiatives and a pro/con guide for San Francisco measures. I'm very happy to have found these resources!

Finally, the League directs additional efforts into reforming money in politics, defending the environment, advocating gun safety and more. You can get the complete breakdown of their work here.

The most current information can be found on their blog or by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @LWV and @VOTE411 for election info.

While I certainly have an opinion of who you should vote for on November 8th, what will give me the biggest Feel Good Friday feeling is knowing that people are engaged and participating so please, get out there and vote!