On February 14, 1920, the League of Women Voters was formed with a goal to help 20 million women carry out their responsibility as new voters.

According to their website, “The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. We empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation, at the local, state, and national levels.”

• The League of Women Voters (League) has three levels of organization—local, state, and national—with members belonging to all three levels

• At the national level, there is a board of directors which is elected at a national convention and sets position policy. Most of these board members live in Metro Washington D.C.

• There are local and state Leagues in all 50 states, Washington D.C., the Virgin Islands, and Hong Kong

• Local and state Leagues are set up to promote the purposes of the League. Failure to fulfill requirements may result in the national League withdrawing recognition.

An interesting side note is that after President Trump won the 2016 election, the League issued a press release claiming the election was rigged.

According to influencewatch.org, the League maintains two legal entities to carry out its missions, the League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters Education Fund. These two entities receive significant funding from progressive mega-donors.

• The Ford Foundation

• George Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society

• The New York State United Teachers government worker labor union

• The Tides Foundation

The League may have started out in a practical role of protecting and expanding voting rights, but those days are drastically over.

No longer shy about its support of progressive policies, the League is charging full steam ahead to some sort of socialist utopia—all while claiming to want to protect democracy.

• The League supports abortion rights

• The League opposes photo ID requirements and other measures being taken for voting integrity

• The League supports gun control—claiming concealed firearms and modern rifles are a major threat—and also supports background checks, waiting periods, and annual license renewals

• The League supports transgender student athletes

• The League supports legalization of status for illegal immigrants and federal handouts to communities impacted by illegal immigrants. The League supported the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

• The League opposes school vouchers and tax credits for private education, preferring a top-down nationalized education program and going so far as to challenge a Florida law that would allow students to use vouchers to attend other schools

• The League supports Universal Health Care

• The League opposes the death penalty and mandatory minimums in the sentencing of drug dealers

• The League supports the progressive LGBTQ+ and transgender agenda in the name of “inclusion” and “belonging”

• The League touted support for the Obama Administration climate change policies

• The League supports a carbon tax

• The League is opposed to drilling and to the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline

In other words, the League supports the Democratic Party platform.

Republicans are waking up to the extreme liberal activism of the League, which began decades ago.

• According to influencewatch.org, in 1955 the conservative magazine National Review called out the League for its liberal stance towards radical social experimentation

• In 1995 California Republicans claimed the League is “a group rife with liberal bias”

• The League has received criticism of liberal bias from Republicans in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, and West Virginia

The League has gone so far in setting policy positions and lobbying for extreme left-leaning issues that one would presume all Republicans would be pushing back, refusing to participate in any League sponsored event.

With the obvious liberal activism and bias—consistent with the Democratic Party platform, why are some Ottawa County Republican candidates attending the events of the League of Women Voters? Organizations like the League attract a certain type of voter—typically, a progressive voter who agrees with the League’s liberal stance. A candidate speaking at an event held by the League essentially would be there to solicit the progressive vote.

Recently, on April 18, 2024, the League of Women Voters of Holland Area had an event at the Howard Miller Public Library. Noticeably missing were incumbent Commissioners Gretchen Cosby from District 1, Lucy Ebel from District 2, Joe Moss from District 5, Kendra Wenzel from District 6, Sylvia Rhodea from District 8, Roger Belknap from District 9, and Allison Miedema from District 11. These candidates were at the Ottawa County Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner and undoubtedly not in support of the League.

However, 18 candidates for the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners did attend the League’s event. Not only did they attend, but each gave a three-minute speech to introduce themselves.

• District 1: Republican Jim Barry, Democrat Danielle Smith, and Republican Chris Vander Sys

• District 2: Democrat Chris Kleinjans and Republican Jordan Jorritsma

• District 3: Democrat Doug Zylstra

• District 4: Republican Jacob Bonnema and Democrat Chris Crothers

• District 5: Republican Mark Northrup

• District 6: Republican Shawn Haff

• District 7: Republican John Teeples

• District 8: Democrat Rebecca Patrick

• District 9: Republican Philip Kuyers and Democrat Angela Stanford-Butler

• District 10: Republican Josh Brugger and Democrat Douglas VanBennekom

• District 11: Republican Sara Bajema and Republican Dick Van Dop

There was a question-and-answer session at the end of the event, which was not recorded. Seeing as how the League has progressive followers, how were these Republicans able to solicit progressive, activist votes while answering voter questions pertaining to abortion, transgender student athletes, carbon tax, illegal immigration, and LGBTQ rights?

Maybe the Republicans who support the League don’t know yet what the organization stands for. Or perhaps these Republicans don’t care and feel the need to solicit Democrat votes. Or maybe these Republicans truly agree with the stance of the League of Women Voters.