As America celebrates its 250th birthday, one of the core responsibilities of our democracy—voting—faces pressure on multiple fronts. Recent efforts to require new forms of ID and proof of citizenship are more serious than eliminating the ‘one person, one vote’ right.
Consider that longstanding naturalized citizens have been purged from voter rolls – and not for gaps in their voting record. As recently featured in the Daily Journal, Charrie Stambaugh received a letter requiring proof of citizenship to remain on the voter rolls. Stambaugh was naturalized in 2003, has a stepfather who is a US military veteran, has degrees from Purdue and the IU School of Medicine, has served as Public Health Administrator for the Indiana State Department of Health, has worked for Wishard Hospital and multiple nonprofits, has run for local office, and is now the Greenwood Plan Commissioner.
Stambaugh knows the system, and reinstating her right to vote required sleuthing with her county clerk. Stambaugh had a Real ID. She could fly, but she couldn’t vote. She observed that this sends a signal to people who spent years “doing it right” — passing the background checks, following the laws and regulations, passing the tests and interviews and taking the oath of citizenship. It shows how some voters’ rights are more fragile than others.
Consider anyone who has changed their name— married women who have taken their husband’s last name, for instance. They, too, may find voter registration takes several hours as they sign up in their district, if the U.S. Congress passes the SAVE Act. This is the legislation that the current administration feels is important enough to postpone signing the bipartisan housing bill that Congress recently passed. In this climate, postponing a bipartisan housing bill to apply pressure around a voting-related measure—the SAVE Act—turns people’s right to participate into a bargaining chip
The view that households should vote instead of individuals may sound, at first, like a nostalgic nod to some bygone era of “family values,” but its real effect would be to compress millions of voices into fewer formal decision-makers. That approach would particularly weaken the political presence of multigenerational households and the democratic equality of spouses. Perhaps that is why former Vice President Mike Pence told NPR’s Steve Inskeep on June 23, “it's one person, one vote in this country, and people have bled and died for that principle.” Notably, Pence identified the core issues facing families as, “what American families need is an application of the kind of principles that'll create higher wages, more opportunities, more jobs.
The League of Women Voters remains active as a century-old, women-led grassroots organization that believes the freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue and that democracy depends on informed, active participation from everyone. Emerging out of the suffrage movement, the League took on the task of helping newly enfranchised women become engaged voters and policy thinkers. Over time, it broadened its mission to empower voters of all genders and backgrounds. Today, the League explicitly encourages everyone to take part in our democracy, emphasizing that voting is a citizen’s responsibility, not an elite right.
One of the League’s core priorities is expanding voter access—turning the legal right to vote into a practical reality for as many citizens as possible. The League advocates for policies that make registration and voting simpler and more accessible, such as modernized registration systems and options that reduce logistical barriers for working people, caregivers, students, and naturalized citizens. By focusing on the nuts and bolts of how we get onto the rolls and into the polling place, the League recognizes that long lines, limited hours, and confusing procedures can function as quiet forms of exclusion.
But expanding access is only half the battle; the League also fights voter suppression in all its forms. It works to protect the right of every American to vote, specifically calling out efforts aimed at silencing Black, brown, female, disabled, and other historically underrepresented citizen groups. That includes responding to policies and practices that throw up extra hurdles for or create disproportionate burdens on communities already facing age, economic or social barriers. By naming these patterns and challenging them through advocacy and education, the League reinforces the idea that the electorate should reflect the full diversity of the country, not just those who find the process easy.
The League also tackles the influence of money in politics, understanding that big dollars can drown out everyday voices even when everyone technically has a ballot. Its work in this arena focuses on making sure government serves the people rather than wealthy special interests, pressing for transparency, accountability, and reforms that curb the most distorting effects of money in our elections. A system in which a small number of donors and dark-money entities drive agendas cannot be called truly representative, no matter how smoothly Election Day operations run.
Redistricting is another pillar of the League’s democracy agenda. How we draw our maps determines which communities have a meaningful chance to elect leaders who reflect their interests. The League promotes fair, community-centered redistricting that resists efforts to manipulate boundaries for partisan gain. When lines are drawn to dilute the power of specific groups, the promise of one person, one vote is weakened long before anyone walks into a polling place.
As America marks 250 years, the League of Women Voters celebrates our history and stands up for our democracy. The League’s century of organizing—expanding access, fighting suppression, reforming money in politics, ensuring fair maps, and safeguarding elections—in the face of ongoing resistance, is a reminder that the right to vote is never a finished project. If we want the next 250 years to live up to the best of the American experiment, we must reject efforts to narrow the franchise and recommit to a simple, radical promise: every eligible person gets a real chance to vote, and every vote counts.