The end of the year is a prime season to reflect on LWVDC’s accomplishments
in 2024 and to prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Every election year is especially busy for the League, and this was no exception. As we take stock of our efforts and celebrate our achievements, we want to express deep gratitude to this community for your inspiring work! We look forward to continuing this work into 2025—without you, we would not be able to do what we do to promote democracy and protect voting rights in DC.
We wish you and yours a happy, healthy new year and look forward to seeing you at League events soon. Happy New Year from all of us at LWVDC!
Marching Forward Toward Statehood and Fighting to Preserve DC’s Autonomy
LWVDC continues to educate and engage citizens and elected officials—in DC and across the country—about the lack of full democracy in the nation's capital. Our leadership was on full display in 2024 through advocacy, events, strategic partnerships, and LWVDC’s presence across the city. And as we brace for anticipated attacks on DC’s Home Rule in 2025, LWVDC’s leadership is as important as ever.
This year, we launched a petition in support of statehood, and have already collected signatures from individuals in at least 48 states. If you haven’t yet, sign our petition here.
During the League’s national Convention this summer, LWVDC hosted a dedicated DC Statehood Room. We were there every day, welcoming over 500 guests to have fun, get creative, and learn about what statehood means to the people in our city (and take home some swag). You can read more about Convention here.
At Convention, the national League also reaffirmed its support for DC statehood, when 98% of delegates voted in favor of the resolution: “Be it resolved that the League of Women Voters of the United States strongly supports legislation that will establish statehood for the people of the District of Columbia.” We have also worked with state and local Leagues across the country, encouraging them to adopt their own resolutions, and as of November, Leagues in 25 states have passed their own measures in support of DC statehood.
The city’s youth are also in on the action. LWVDC spearheaded the Youth Voices for DC Statehood Showcase in September, where talented and passionate DC youth performed spoken word, poetry, and rap at THEARC in DC’s Ward 8. And thanks to students at Powell Bilingual Elementary School, the DC Council designated the Red-Backed Salamander as DC’s official amphibian (with a letter of support from LWVDC).
LWVDC also showed out in-force when the Maryland House of Delegates considered a resolution, with 62 co-sponsors, supporting statehood and stating that Maryland has no claim on the territory of DC that it ceded in 1791. If you want to keep up with the state of support for statehood, checkout the DC Statehood Compact led by LWVDC member Noah Wills.
Serving and Engaging Voters in an Election Year
LWVDC volunteers have been very busy this election year: registering new voters—from youth to new citizens, joining forces to celebrate National Voter Registration Day, helping make the voting rights of incarcerated DC citizens a reality, and engaging and educating voters in new places and ways. This work will not slow down in 2025, as we seek to maintain our partnerships and build on this momentum to be ready for the elections in 2026.
Our League has been a constant presence at naturalization ceremonies every month this year, registering DC’s newest voters. And we were on double-duty in the six months leading up to the election, as the court hosted twice as many ceremonies as usual. At the naturalization ceremonies in 2024, we registered 1,300 folks, LWVDC members volunteered over 675 hours, and we provided voter education materials to over 2,189 folks including new citizens, guests, and future voters. This year we also developed “How To Vote” pamphlets (in both English and Spanish), which we can distribute at these ceremonies (and all our events). LWVDC has also been active with other community partners to engage voters in more than just registration. For example, in partnership with the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) we have been able to connect with immigrant communities around voter education and civic engagement.
LWVDC volunteers have been showing up on college and high school campuses all year, to foster enthusiasm and awareness among these new and future voters. From Howard University to the University of the District of Columbia and George Washington University, we have forged new relationships that have allowed us to connect with a new generation of voters. And we have joined high school classrooms and student-oriented workshops throughout the year to present on why voting matters, on DC statehood, and on digital tools for democracy.
Our Restore the Vote team has also been hard at work engaging incarcerated voters. This has included registering voters at Federal Bureau of Prisons and DC Department of Corrections facilities, serving as election observers, and continuing to find creative ways to connect incarcerated citizens with the tools and basic civics knowledge to be fully engaged voters. LWVDC also hosted an event with Tova Wang, of Harvard’s Ash Center, where our members could learn more about DC’s transformational approach to jail-based voting. (If you missed it, you can watch the recording here.) The success and value of these efforts is validated, for example, by the fact that the turnout rate for registered incarcerated voters topped the DC citywide turnout rate.
For the sports fans out there, LWVDC also took a leading role in LWVUS’s partnership with the WNBA Washington Mystics as part of the Commissioner's Cup tournament this summer. We organized volunteers to attend five Mystics games—with support from Maryland and Virginia Leagues. We set up tables where we registered voters, collected signatures on the statehood petition, promoted the League’s Vote411 guide, and engaged and inspired current and future voters. You can read more about our work with the Mystics.
ICYMI
- Vote411: An enormous amount of work goes on behind the scenes to power Vote411—LWV’s voter guide. Many thanks to members who contributed to the success of our guide. In the lead-up to every election, both primaries and general elections, LWVDC crafts questions and collects responses from local candidates. And we push this information out, online and in-person, so voters know what will be on their ballots and to equip them with information to make informed choices. This year, to reach even more voters, LWVDC asked questions in English and Spanish and found creative ways to deliver hard copies and pdfs of Vote411 to incarcerated voters. During the 2024 election cycle, over 55,000 voters used our guide. The LWVUS reports that Vote411.org was recognized with a First Place Gold Anthem Award in the "Human and Civil Rights - Product, Innovation, or Service" category. This win recognizes the hard work and effort Leagues across the country put into the website. It is a testament to our work in our communities each and every election cycle!
- Climate: LWVDC has continued a steady drumbeat of climate advocacy this year—pushing back against gas pipe replacements that would frustrate DC’s clean energy goals, campaigning to avert the cutting of 1,200 trees in the Rock Creek Golf Course, and supporting a Bottle Bill that would boost recycling and curb pollution.
- Initiative 83: LWVDC is part of a coalition supporting Initiative 83—a ballot initiative for ranked choice voting and letting independents vote in the DC primaries. The initiative passed in November, with 73% of voters in favor. From here, for these voting reforms to be implemented, the DC Council must appropriate funds for the Board of Elections to update and revise its systems.
