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Overview

The League of Women Voters ia a non-partisan citizen activist organization that operates at the local, state, and national level. The League was formed more than 80 years ago as part of the legacy of the woman's suffrage movement. Today, the League represents over 90,000 women and men.

The League's purpose is to:

• Encourage the active and informed participation of citizens in government

• Increase understanding of major public policy issues

• Secure public policies that promote League goals reached through member participation and agreement

The League does not work on behalf of candidates or political parties. We are a strictly non-partisan organization

The League registers voters, defends voting rights, monitors government activities, sponsors candidate debates and public issue forums, informs through our in-depth and balanced issues analysis, studies issues, takes action, lobbies, testifies on the issues you care about. We help put laws on the books.

League Members: Join us at our Board Meetings

Our League Board meets the first Tuesday of every month at the Albany Public Library at 5:45. Members are always welcome to attend, and past and potential board members are important contributors to, mentors and instigators of Board activities and ideas. Coming to Board meetings is a great way to learn about League, to find out about what goes on behind the scenes, and to explore being on the Board yourself. We can always use our members’ ideas, so please feel very welcome to attend!

The League in Profile

Agnes R. Allen

(By Daughter, Edith Allen, LWV Albany Member)

My Mother joined the League of Women Voters in about 1947 when an active League was formed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The kick-off was an afternoon tea with Anna Lord Strauss, the President of League of Women Voters of United States, as the guest of honor. I, an elementary student, shook her hand and felt as if I had entered a big stage.

Agnes Allen was active, and one of her issues was pasteurizing milk. The milk sold in eastern Tennessee at that time was not generally pasteurized, and most people who grew up locally saw no reason to do so. I do not know her exact position, but Agnes Allen worked on this issue at the level of the State Board of League of Women Voters of Tennessee. By the end of 1949 pasteurizing milk was enacted.

My family moved to Long Island and Agnes Allen joined the League of Women Voters of Northern Brookhaven. At various times she was active on various issues, and I think she served as local League President for a year or two. The local group members grew older, and in the 1970s did work on ground water recharge. On Long Island, if a lot of water is pumped from the water table, salt water intrudes and the well can no longer supply fresh water. Having rain water recharge the areas where there are water wells is quite important to maintaining the water supply, but pavement and buildings impede that process. On the Island it has been almost as hard down to reduce and channel development as in the Albany Pine Bush. Agnes Allen was active on that issue, and the League has had some success in setting aside acreage for ground water recharge.

I understand that the Leagues in Brookhaven Town on Long Island both faced dwindling membership, as Agnes Allen and others faded out. One of her last League activities was to report from the polls on election night in the late 1980s. Now there is a single Brookhaven Town League of Women Voters, though the Town is one of New York State’s largest, at least 20 miles by 20 miles.