Our mission is to engage and educate voters — not just those who know of the League and welcome our candidate forums, educational events about voting and election reforms, and voting guides such as Vote411.org — but also those who may not be exercising their right to vote, despite being eligible.
Our outreach focuses on young adults, new citizens, and voters who are disengaged. We emphasize that we are strictly nonpartisan, never supporting or opposing candidates or parties. We believe that democracy thrives when more voices and more perspectives engage in civil discourse and use the ballot to express their views — yes, for federal elections such as for President, US Senator, and Congressional Representative, but also for NYS Legislators and state-wide offices such as Governor Comptroller and Attorney General.
We also work to engage our communities in more local elections, such as for Nassau County representatives, Town of North Hempstead and City of Glen Cove office holders, not to mention School Boards, Public Library Boards, and special district commissions such as Water, Fire, Parks, Police, and Garbage.
To belong to the League and to volunteer with the Voter Outreach Team is to gain an education in civics with almost every project. Below are some of our activities in 2022-23.
Distributing voter registration forms in English and Spanish at local colleges and high schools, along with answering questions about how to complete them (on paper and online), and what will happen next. Citizens who are 16 years of age may pre-register to vote (using the same forms), so that they are fully registered for the first election after their 18th birthday. To learn more, check out our Voting Registration Basics tab.
LWV voting brochures and registration forms are distributed to libraries, churches, temples, and mosques, in the English language, Spanish, and other languages, as needed.
In Glen Cove, members have supported La Fuerza Unida to promote with Vote411.org with flyers and information in Spanish
For federal and statewide candidate forums for the 2022 general elections, we partnered with Disability Rights New York to provide ESL interpretation and manually improved closed captioning/transcript. It was a pilot project we hope to continue for forums with a virtual recording component.
Prior to the pandemic, we attended all naturalization ceremonies at Sagamore Hill and the Eastern District Courthouse (Central Islip), helping new citizens register to vote immediately following their taking the oath of citizenship.
Prior to the pandemic, we also canvassed in the lowest turnout election districts in our area, encouraging eligible voters to make their voices heard.
Candidate forums — these are held in-person and virtually, with most posted on our LWVofPWM YouTube channel (sort by playlist and look for forums from 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, etc.). For those who want closed captions, YT provides them, along with the option of translating the captions into dozens of languages.
What about voters with disabilities? We monitor polls sites for accessibility and take calls about issues. We’ve begun working with Disability Rights New York for forums; it has provided ASL interpreters and manually enhanced closed captions. We have begun asking candidates to provide a brief visual description of themselves for visually-impaired listeners to forums.
League members assist the Housing Authority with Tenant Elections, posting information, serving at poll sites within each building, carefully stewarding ballots for counting and storage. Most recent elections: July 2023, two-year terms.
For decades, our League has managed the Town Supervisor’s Lunch with the League, where the Supervisor gives the State of the Town address. Usually hundreds of people attend, office-holders and private citizens from across a wide expanse of political persuasions.
