The League of Women Voters of West Virginia (LWVWV) has adopted four main areas as priorities for 2024. The League will be taking action on these and other issues during the 2024 legislative session. In addition to these four areas, the League will continue to work with partners on other issues as a member of various coalitions, including WV Citizens for Clean Elections, Health Care for All WV, and the WV Climate Alliance. Please join us in working toward our goal of creating a better West Virginia for all of us.
Strengthening Democracy
The right to vote and equal access to the ballot are pillars of our democracy and guiding principles for the LWV. We will:
- Advocate for ways to increase voter turnout, based on lessons learned from the 2020 and 2022 elections.
- Oppose any legislation that would restrict voting.
- Advocate for legislation to make voting easier, including no-excuse absentee voting and expanded options for ballot return and early in-person voting.
- Oppose restrictions on voter registration.
- Oppose voter ID requirements that present barriers to voting.
- Support legislation to modernize election methods, reduce taxpayer costs, and reduce administrative burden on clerks, while preserving election security.
- Support legislation to re-enfranchise citizens who were formerly incarcerated.
- Oppose any effort to make campaign funding less transparent and more open to wealthy voters to the detriment of other voters.
- Support more transparent and non-partisan redistricting efforts.
Safeguarding Equal Rights
The LWV is committed to equal rights because, to succeed in the 21st Century, West Virginia must be welcoming for all. We will:
- Oppose legislative efforts to suppress civil and Constitutional rights.
- Advocate for reproductive freedom, including recognition of abortion as a private healthcare decision. Support repeal of HB 302, West Virginia’s near-total abortion ban, and other laws that restrict private healthcare decisions.
- Support legislation to ban discrimination and ensure equality of opportunity in education, employment, and housing for all West Virginians regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
Protecting Children and Families
The LWV believes social policy should promote self-sufficiency for individuals and families, and the most-effective programs will prevent or reduce poverty. We will:
- Advocate for state and local budgets that cover essential services and protect our most vulnerable. Budgets are the government’s expression of its values.
- Support legislation to meet essential needs for food, shelter, and access to health care for persons unable to work, whose earnings are inadequate, or for whom jobs are not available.
- Advocate for training programs to prepare unemployed and displaced workers for employment with livable wages.
- Advocate for equal pay for equal work.
- Support health care for all West Virginians including expanded Medicaid coverage and subsidies for affordable coverage under the ACA.
- Support measures to eliminate disparities in health care availability and outcomes for disadvantaged communities in all parts of our state.
- Advocate for access to evidence-based treatment and harm reduction strategies to save lives affected by substance use disorders.
- Advocate for policies and programs to promote well-being and ensure the safety and development of all children. These include:
- Prevention and effective interventions for child abuse/neglect.
- Prevention of teen pregnancy.
- Quality nutrition and prenatal care.
- Developmental services, particularly for children ages 0-3, and early childhood education.
- Family support services, including affordable child care and paid family leave.
- Violence prevention.
- Fully-funded public education to meet the needs of all students.
Creating a Sustainable Future
Climate change is no longer a distant or future threat. It has become a crisis for which immediate responses are needed. The LWV seeks to protect the health and safety of all West Virginians as well as our planet Earth. We will:
- Oppose legislation that privileges fossil fuels over renewables.
- Support legislation that provides opportunities for West Virginians to access a diverse, reliable, and secure energy grid, including the expansion of renewable energy sources.
- Target strategic management of natural resources to protect the planet for this and future generations.
- Oppose facilities that add, expand, or preserve dependence on fossil fuels.
- Advocate for environmental priorities that are coupled with a creative and just transition for workers in fossil fuel energy sectors.
- Support updated water quality standards to strengthen protections for human health and wildlife habitats, and support measures to expand access to water service that meets these standards.
- Advocate for passage of nuisance legislation to alleviate problems of industrial noise, medical waste, or odor.
- Advocate for legislation to utilize funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to transform our communities with a focus on environmental justice for those who have been the most adversely affected by living in proximity to polluting industries.
- Support legislation to authorize community solar to expand cost-effective investments in energy efficient technologies for West Virginia homes and public service facilities.
- Support and advocate with other organizations to promote our sustainability priorities.