Pahrump Valley League of Women Voters reorganizes program

After a brief hiatus, a community organization announced its return.

Officials with the Pahrump Valley Chapter League of Women Voters took time off to reorganize the body.

The league is dedicated to ensuring that all eligible voters, especially those from under-represented or underserved communities, have the opportunity and the information to exercise their right to vote.

Member Francis Rust said the reorganization effort took place over the past couple of months and the league now has enough members to reorganize.

"We have officers that we elected last month at our regular meeting," she said. "We are now meeting monthly since December and we finally got a nucleus of people who want it to continue and that's where we are."

Rust noted the League of Women Voters is completely nonpartisan and their mission is to educate so voters can gain more information about the candidate.

"We have sources where we can instruct the voters about what the candidates stand for. We get statements from the candidates and they provide us information where we can share it with the voters."

Though the organization's title is skewed toward women, men are also welcome to join.

Additionally, the league cannot endorse any candidate running for office.

"We are open to everybody 18 and over who are interested in becoming a voting member of the League of Women Voters," Rust said. "We do not support any candidate for either party. We just deal with the issues. We also register voters that have never voted before. We help them go through the process of registration. Basically we are more of a community civic organization that is interested in the community and elections."

To financially support the organization, the league holds regular fundraisers, one of which is known as the Queen's Tea each summer.

"That came about years ago when we first started," she said. "We had a British member at that time and we were talking about having a tea. She suggested we have it around the time of the Queen's birthday, so that's how we chose June for the Queen's Tea. We contacted people and organizations to determine if they want to nominate a prominent woman or a woman they feel should be honored for their work in the community. They nominate their people and on that day of the tea, they all receive an award with a commendation letter written by the group that sponsored them."

Law Day, Rust said, is another popular event the organization holds.

"The last time we had a Law Day, it was a very big success," she said. "We did have Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Kris Pickering, who came to Pahrump and did a nice talk at a luncheon held at Mountain Falls Grill Room. Law Day week is the first week of May and it is designated by the Nevada State Bar. We get information from the state bar association and they help us try and get this off the ground."

As the organization shuns supporting one candidate over another, Rust did provide her opinion of this year's election cycle.

"I believe that any thinking person just needs to put everything aside and make up their own mind," she said. "As time goes on, there's a lot that's going to happen between now and November."

The organization is hosting their next meeting at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel at 861 South Highway 160, on Feb. 21, at 2 p.m.

For additional information, call 775-727-3978.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com