Voting Is Important for Kids Too
Kid Reporter talks to the President of the Los Angeles League of Women Voters
Kid Reporter Mariam El Hasan with Liza White, the President of the Los Angeles League of Women Voters. (Photo courtesy Mariam El Hasan)
Did you know that the League of Women Voters (LWV) is not just for women? Scholastic News had the opportunity to sit down with Liza White, who is the President of the Los Angeles League, and learn about the importance of voting during the election season.
The League of Women Voters is a political organization, but it is also a non-partisan organization. That means it doesn't support any political group or candidate. White said, "We are dedicated to promoting informed active participation of all in the government. This means we educate people of all sides of the issues. We educate people about what the candidates have to offer." She went on to explain that League members have candidate forums, they help people understand issues on the ballots, and they register people to vote.
The Los Angeles LWV has been around since 1920, which is the same time the National League of Women Voters was established. White explained how the original purpose of the League was to give "newly enfranchised [women] voters the ability to understand how to vote and what the considerations were about the issues they would be looking at." She said that the purpose of the League has changed, and now it also has members who are men.
Although the League of Women Voters was founded to get women involved in politics, it did not endorse Senator Hillary Clinton for President because it does not endorse anybody. White believes it doesn't matter if the President is a woman or a man because it is more important to have a candidate who has experience and knowledge.
Senator Clinton was probably the strongest female candidate who has emerged in the 88 years since women gained the right to vote. White thinks that women should become more involved in politics. "We're more likely to have strong female candidates the more representatives we have at all levels of government that represent females, and we're not there yet," White said. "We don't have equity at all levels. We don't have equity of gender. So when we get more equity of gender at those levels, it's more likely that we'll have strong female candidates."
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| Kid Reporter Mariam El Hasan interviewing Los Angeles League of Women Voters President Liza White. (Photo courtesy Mariam El Hasan) |
The League of Women Voters in Los Angeles has had many successful achievements. One of their programs is called "Running and Winning." "It is a program that takes students in Los Angeles out of high school for one day and gives the students the opportunity to meet with elected officials and interview them about how they were elected," White told Scholastic News. "They then create their own mock candidacy and campaign so that they can actually have the experience of running for office, because we believe that participation in government is wonderful, but running for office is probably one of the highest things you could strive for."
At the end of the interview, White wanted to give kids a message. She said that kids should start participating in government now. "You vote every day when you make choices," she explained. "You choose what brand of food you're going to eat, you make a choice. It's a vote."
White added that every child should participate now in something that they care about. She wants kids to tell their parents how they feel about government issues and to ask them, "How does government affect this? Who makes the rules? Are you voting in a way that could help this?" She also said, "Once you reach the age when you could register to vote, register to vote. Once you do that, go out, find out who's running, what the issues are, what's important to you, and vote with your heart and mind."
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