Making Democracy Work®
Civic Education

Civic education is at the heart of the League of Women Voters. The League supports civic education as a fundamental principle of our organization. When the League was founded in 1920, it aimed to “help newly enfranchised women exercise their right to vote.” A fundamental aspect of being prepared to vote is to have a basic understanding of the candidates and issues based on facts. The LWVWA supports the expansion and enhancement of civic education for people of all ages and walks of life.


Democracy Coordinator: Alison McCaffree, 253-720-6813, amccaffree@lwvwa.org
 DOWNLOAD the Civic Education Issue Paper
Interested in getting involved with this topic? 
Contact Alison McCaffree


Take Action!

Updates

Legislation


Get Involved

Overview of the 2025 Legislative Session

Mandatory civic education for high school graduates, which the League helped to pass in 2018, is a continuing requirement. In the 2025 legislative session, the League will support legislation developed with the Criminal Justice issue chair and others that insures more civic engagement and voting in jails and hospitals. The League will support any bills that encourage and enhance people to learn civics.


Updates

At times during the session, an Issue Chair may write a "Weekly Update" to provide more details on what happened during the week. When they are available, they can be found below

Bills The League Supports

HB 1116 Recognizing election day as a holiday.
Makes the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November (Election Day) a “recognized legislative holiday” and directs the Secretary of State to create programming and materials that can be used by state and local governmental entities, schools and cultural organizations to offer educational programming related to democracy and voting. Empowering voters and encouraging citizens to participate in their government and democracy are key missions of the LWV; this legislation is also in line with the League’s goal to encourage more civic education. This bill passed out of the House State Gov’t & Tribal Relations unanimously on January 17. 

HB 1147 Supporting civic engagement for incarcerated and institutionalized individuals
Studies show that if people remain connected to their communities, they have a better time being reintroduced to society after incarceration/institutionalization and recidivism is lower. See more information on the Criminal Justice issue page.

How To Be Involved

  • If you are interested in a particular bill, use the links above to go to the webpage for that bill. These pages include staff summaries and reports including who testified PRO versus CON on the bill. There is also information about how to access videos of hearings that have been held.
  • Read and take action through the LWVWA Legislative Action Newsletter, distributed each Sunday during the legislative session.
  • You may also express your opinion on legislation with the LWVWA issue chairs. We will take your perspectives under consideration as we determine our support for legislation and prepare testimony. Please direct questions or comments to Alison McCaffree, Democracy Team Coordinator.

The League of Women Voters of Washington is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization.
The League of Women Voters of Washington Education Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. LWVWA Education Fund contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law. The League of Women Voters Education Fund does not endorse the contents of any web pages to which it links.

League of Women Voters of the United States

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