LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The League is back.
Four years ago, Nevada's chapter of the League of Women voters dissolved after a dispute over policy between the national organization and then-Nevada League president Sondra Cosgrove.
Cosgrove went on to found Vote Nevada, an organization that did some of the same things as the League.
But now, the League's Silver State chapter has reconstituted itself, just two months before the consequential 2024 elections.
Its new president, Barbara Wells, has lived in Nevada for more than nine years. She retired as a licensed psychologist, where she worked at the Veterans Administration hospital and its various clinics.
A friend told her that the League has a way to stay involved after she retired.
"I guess you could say I was looking for something to do to continue bettering the lives of my fellow Nevadans," she said. "And this is how I found the League of Women Voters."
The League formed in 1920, just months before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote. Today, the organization includes men, and advocates on issues such as money in politics, redistricting, voting rights and fighting voter suppression, according to its website.
Wells says the League's Nevada chapter will concentrate on making sure Nevada's generous voting laws remain intact.
"I'd say right now, with the election looming ahead, we are looking to get out the vote first and foremost, and we're reaching out to people, not only face to face, but also leveraging digital communication as well," she said. "A lot of it, I think, has to do with maintaining the laws that are in place. As you're aware, there have been challenges to the universal mail-in ballots, the laws that allow ballots to be sent to every registered voter, and the allegations of massive fraud have not been substantiated in court."
Under a law first passed during the pandemic in 2020, Nevada sends all active registered voters a mail ballot and gives them about a month to return them. It also allows for two weeks of early voting, and voting at centers anywhere in the county regardless of where a voter lives. It also allows for same-day voter registration.
Although the League is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates for office, it does take position on ballot questions. In 2024, the League supports Question 6, which would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution. It also supports Question 3, the ranked-choice/open primary initiative, because it would allow all voters regardless of political party to participate in primary elections.
"We would stand behind it, particularly in terms of the fact that it's bundled with open primaries," Wells said. "Our state has approximately 40 percent of its voters who fall into the independent or unaffiliated categories, and they are essentially barred from participating [in primaries] at present."
Critics of that measure — who have begun to advertise against it — say that only Republicans should choose Republican candidates and only Democrats should choose Democratic candidates. They also maintain that ranked choice is a confusing change from the current candidate-with-the-most-votes wins system.
Wells said the League opposes Question 7, which would require an ID before casting a ballot, either in person or by mail.
"We feel that requiring a voter ID at the polls is looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist," she said, referring to in-person voting fraud.
Instances of that kind of fraud are vanishingly rare, a fact even documented by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which found just eight instances of fraud between 2011 and 2021. All resulted in prosecutions and convictions.
For more information on the League or how to join, visit the group's website.
