March is International Women’s Month and what a perfect opportunity to say Happy Birthday to the League of Women Voters of Beaufort!
The local LWV branch celebrated its seventh birthday last week with cake and talk about the future of a volunteer organization which has built its reputation on promoting voting rights.
With the 2024 General Elections quickly approaching, the importance of LWV work, and any group dedicated to democracy, is just as important as, if not more so, the media attention given to the candidates running for the top elected offices in the nation.
The LWVs across the country are working with election boards to make sure eligible citizens are first registered to vote, and that their rights to cast that ballot are protected. While this latest version of the League was celebrating its seventh birthday this year, actually, the LWV of Beaufort County was first organized in 1973 by women like Harriet Keyserling, Janet Sawyer, Zoe Tsagos, Alice Wright, Nan Smyth, Nancy Thomas Gilley, Susan Graber, Cecily McMillan, Julie Zachowski and Evelyn Caldwell.
The Beaufort County League was later restructured to recognize when Hilton head Island and Bluffton formed their own organizations.
The LWV of Northern BC went dormant in 2007 until it was resurrected in 2017 by women like Jane Caffrey, Barbara Childs, Peggy Reider, Alison Davidow and Catherine Foster.
To celebrate the LWV and other organizations dedicated to preserving democracy and the rights of others, it’s a good thing.
– Lolita T. Watson, League of Women Voters Beaufort member
