Reaching Member Agreement.
Before the League can take action, members must agree in broad terms on what they think about various aspects of a program issue and be able to clearly state this point of view.
Consensus is League jargon (see our jargon list) for a group discussion method that has been used traditionally in the League to arrive at conclusions on issues. The agreement reached by members through group discussion of an issue is not a simple majority, nor is it unanimity. Rather, it is the overall "sense of the group" as expressed through the exchange of ideas and opinions, whether in a general membership meeting or a series of membership or unit meetings.
In the League, "consensus" is also used interchangeably with "member agreement" to refer to the overall decision-making process by which a League board determines there is substantial agreement among members on an issue.
Whatever study and member agreement procedures are used, the board sets the ground rules at the beginning so that members understand the process and the board can collect the information needed to formulate the position based on member input and agreement. A board might choose to combine consensus with a member questionnaire, or to use a questionnaire alone to determine what the "sense of the group" is on an issue.
Positions Drafted at Various Levels of League.
Local leagues at times participate in member agreement processes at the state and national levels of League. In other words, both the LWVWA and LWVUS can seek concurrence (more League jargon) from local Leagues, typically by communication with local boards or by publication of studies and questionnaires in the The National Voter. |
