You can start your own LOHV chapter.

Yes you can! It's not difficult, and even a small group of concerned citizens can make it happen. We provide, to new and prospective chapters, lots of help to get you started – but for now, here are a few of the basics - just click a topic or scroll through:

Government 101 | What's a PAC? | Getting Started | Things to Do

First, as we recall from Civics class, there are three branches of Government:

·  Executive
·  Legislative
·  Judicial

Most commonly in the US there are four levels of government:

·  Federal
·  State
·  County
·  Municipal

These branches and levels combine into a matrix of twelve distinct governmental jurisdictions which we seek to influence. The chart below does not show the only possible configuration – but it is a fairly common one. The green areas are segments where new LOHV chapters can be effective immediately:

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What are Political Action Committees (PACs)?

For better of or for worse our government is, to a very large degree, controlled by PACs – Political Action Committees. PACs are groups formed to aid the campaigns of candidates likely to advance the group's interests. Examples of very successful PACs are:

NRA – the National Rifle Association
The Farm Bureau
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

To enact laws to protect animals from abuse we, too, have to form a PAC and do what the other PACs do. PACs do two things to influence office holders:

Electioneering - taking an active part in an election campaign -- to try to sway public opinion in favor of a candidate

Lobbying - communicating with office-holders, such as members of a legislative body, with regard to legislation with the objective of influencing their action.

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What is LOHV (the League of Humane Voters^®)?

The LOHV is a PAC whose goal is to establish animal protective legislation and ensure their enforcement.

The LOHV is not a protest organization, and it is not like the animal protection organizations, with which most voters are familiar, such as PeTA, FARM, or IDA (In Defense of Animals).

Protest organizations like these have many more specific animal protective goals, or a cluster of related animal protective goals, or even the goal of protecting all animals from all forms of abuse.

LOHV is different in that it is the political arm for these the achievement of these goals, and each of our chapters focuses on goals pertinent to their region – ranging from companion animal issues to animals in entertainment to farm animals to issues like canned hunting or lethal wildlife management methods. The LOHV will not enter the fray on any specific, substantive issue, and through its electioneering effort elect office-holders who are willing to introduce legislation that will advance the animal protection on all of those issues and lobby the office holders to do so.

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Steps to establish and run a successful local LOHV Chapter

Establish the legal, financial, and organizational basis for you chapter:

- File a dba (doing-business-as) form in your state with the name of your chapter. (e.g. “The Tampa League of Humane Voters”) There are minor variations in state laws on the precise method of doing this – and your state may not require it – but a local CPA or attorney should be able to advise you.

- Start a bank account using the National Organization’s EIN (Employment Identification Number)

- Adopt a set of by-laws for your chapter (see model by-laws below in this manual)

Have an initial organizational meeting, at which you should:
- Form a board of directors
- Elect officers
- Keep and file minutes of your meeting

Establish a database of animal protection Voters who will vote for candidates that will sponsor, support and enforce animal protective legislation. Some effective ways to do this:

- Work with existing animal protection organizations in the area. These groups will usually be happy to invite the local LOHV chapter to speak about the LOHV program to their membership. The presenters can ask the attendees to sign-up to be on LOHV database.

- The local LOHV chapter can attend tabling events in the area and explain to the attendees that LOHV is – asking them to sign-up to be in the database.

- Petitioning concerning a local animal protection issue is another way to get voters into the database. On the petition form have a check-off column captioned “please keep me informed of candidates who will support animal protection.”

There are several seasons in each calendar year for LOHV:

Lobbying season – when the local legislatures are in session usually from early January to late June.

Organizational time – best time for building LOHV’s database through petitioning and tabling: July and August.

Electioneering time –  pick your candidates and actively electioneer for their election: Labor Day through the end of October.

Fundraising time for your Chapter – starting after the November election through December 31st

These seasons are not cast in stone – sometimes you have to get involved in a primary election; sometimes fund-raising opportunities present themselves in spring or in summer; sometimes the legislative session ends early or late – so be flexible but don’t skip any of the activities mentioned above.

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What is Electioneering?

Electioneering is the process of helping to get an animal-friendly candidate elected. Whether he or she is the incumbent or a new candidate, your chapter can help assure victory by volunteering at the campaign headquarters, making calls, stuffing envelopes, or filling in as the candidate’s staff can best use your people. The best way to help, though, is to get “out there,” going door-to-door on behalf of the candidate, handing out informational packets (provided by the candidate) to potential voters. Dress appropriately, and put both your and the candidate’s best foot forward. Want to know more? Call or email us to ask for our CD we created to help new chapters get started.

More About Lobbying 

Lobbying is the process of meeting with legislators to discuss legislation that affects animals’ interests. There are paid lobbyists, working for everything from the oil companies to the NRA – but LOHV lobbyists are not paid. We make appointments with candidates to ask for their support of legislation that protects animals, and for their opposition to legislation that will harm or allow harm to continue.

Lobbyists should be dressed appropriately, be fully informed on the legislation and its potential impact. Other tips for successful lobbying are available on our CD, which you can request by email or phone.

Organization (coming soon)

Fundraising (coming soon)

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