League of Women Voters

A voluntary organization established in 1920 to educate citizens about the political process and to scrutinize and conduct research on the electoral process and government structure at the national, state, and local levels. An outgrowth of the Woman Suffrage Association, the league originally sought to educate women in the rational use of their newly acquired right to vote. The league, which opened its membership to men in 1974, has chapters in most cities in the United States. See also suffrage and women's suffrage movement.