Alabama’s League of Women Voters is ready to advocate for its agenda in the State Legislature. Lawmakers are set to convene for its 2021 session tomorrow.
The league was founded in 1920 after the women’s suffrage movement. Its mission is to empower voters to defend democracy.
Barbara Caddell is the President of the League in Alabama. She said one of the group's most important goals this year is encouraging government transparency.
“We have written a letter to the legislative leaders, encouraging them to make committee hearings available virtually, so that people who want to ask questions, or provide comments or provide testimony, can do so in a safe way,” she said.
Caddell said the group would have liked to have seen some voting rights changes made during the last legislative session, however.
“We wrote letters about proposed bills to improve the voting process in various ways, and all of those bills went to a committee and they died. So I think that the Legislature has another chance to improve our voting process.”
Other causes the League is interested in includes automatic voter registration, expanding access to absentee and early voting, and informing former prisoners of their voting rights.
Caddell said while the League does not have a lobbyist in the Legislature, some legislators are League members.
