Meet-and-greets
A library room, a grange hall, a brewery back room. Every ballot-qualified candidate is invited, seated the same, timed the same, and asked the same questions. You leave knowing who is actually running.
League of Constitutional Voters
Empowering voters. Defending the Republic.
A government of consent starts with a choice on the ballot.
In 2025, two out of three elections in this country had exactly one name on the ballot. We are a nonpartisan nonprofit working, county by county, to change that.
Nonpartisan by bylaw, not by promise
95¢ of every dollar to the mission
Membership from $10 a year
The problem, counted
Most public offices in this country are not chosen.
They are filled.
This is not a metaphor. It’s a count. We pulled the 2025 results and added them up.
The League finds every empty ballot, teaches anyone how to run, presents every candidate on equal terms, and starts young citizens early.
68%
of all elections analyzed
38,606 races reviewed, 2025
78%
of local judicial races
The bench, unopposed
61%
of school board races
Who runs your schools, unopposed
An unopposed race is not a mandate. It is a vacancy someone happened to stand next to. See the full methodology →
Back to first principles
The Constitution already settled this.
We stopped showing up.
The framers did not leave the choice of officials to chance, to appointment, or to whoever filed first. They left it to us — on a ballot, on a schedule, in public. Every uncontested race quietly hands that power back.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Declaration of Independence, 1776
Consent requires an alternative. A ballot with one name asks nothing of you and promises nothing to you. Restoring constitutional government at the local level is not complicated work — it is the ordinary work of neighbors filing, showing up, and asking questions out loud.
What that looks like in practice
- Elections, not appointments. Offices filled by the voters who live with the result.
- Equal treatment, on the record. Every ballot-qualified candidate gets the same room, the same minutes, the same questions.
- No positions, ever. Not on taxes, land use, schools, guns, health care, growth, or water. Article I of our bylaws, amendable only by supermajority of the membership.
- Local control. County charters run their own calendar. Violating nonpartisanship is named cause for revocation.
What we do
Three things, done every year, in public.
No lobbying. No endorsements. No mystery. A calendar you can set your watch by.
Learn to run — free
What the office actually does. What it costs to file. The deadlines, the paperwork, and what the first ninety days look like. No pitch, no dues required, and nobody asks your party.
The Empty Ballot List
Every race in the county at risk of going unopposed, published months before filing week — then worked, name by name, through May. If nobody files, it will not be for lack of notice.
From curious to on the ballot
Four steps. Most of them cost nothing.
Show up
Come to one meet-and-greet. Ask one question. That is the whole ask.
Learn the office
A free quarterly workshop covering duties, hours, pay, and the filing calendar.
File
Filing week is in May. For many Washington offices the fee is $10.
Be on the ballot
Win or lose, the voters got a choice — and that is the point.
Join
Members elect the board. Members amend the bylaws.
At least one board seat is reserved for someone under 30. Dues are deliberately low, because we would rather have you than your money.
Individual, Business & Corporate Membership$10/year
Full voting membership. The cheapest way to have a say in who represents you.
Join$30/year
One voting member. Newsletter, Empty Ballot List, and forum invitations.
Join$45/year
Two voting members at one address. Same benefits, one renewal to remember.
Join$100lifetime
Lifetime membership for individuals or couples who join in the first year of a local charter. Your name in the founding roll.
Become a Legacy Member$500lifetime
Still one vote — that is the point. Recognition on our charter page, and a precinct’s worth of voter guides underwritten.
Become a Founding MemberLifetime tiers continue with Cornerstone $1,000, Keystone $5,000, Bedrock $10,000 and Benefactor $100,000 — see the full schedule.
Where the money goes
95¢ of every dollar. Required by the bylaws, enforced by board policy.
Administration is capped at 5% of revenue, with a fixed $8,000 floor. That is a ceiling the bylaws require and board policy enforces — not a result we are hoping to hit.
95¢ — forums, workshops, the Empty Ballot List
5¢
The cap reads “5% of revenue, with a fixed $8,000 floor.” The floor covers what never scales down — insurance, books, and filings; the 5% cap governs from $160,000 in revenue upward. We publish the arithmetic rather than rounding it away.
Governance documents and finances are posted in full. Read the filings →
Counties
We are launching in Washington. Your county is next — if you start it.
A charter is a handful of neighbors, a meeting room, and a commitment to treat every candidate the same. We provide the playbook, the templates, and the Empty Ballot List for your races. You provide the county.
Why local
The offices with the least competition are the ones closest to your street.
Why now
Filing week is in May. Recruitment has to start in February.
Nominate
Know someone who should run? Put their name in — we will do the asking.
Volunteer
Set up chairs, run the clock, take notes. That is most of the job.
One name is not a choice
Put a second name on the ballot.
Come to a meeting. Bring a neighbor. Or file yourself — it may cost you ten dollars and an afternoon.