League Of Women Voters Releases 2025 Legislative Scorecard, Says Key Issues Went Overlooked

A new report assessing West Virginia’s 2025 legislative session argues that state lawmakers fell broadly short of meeting resident needs surrounding family support and the protection of equal rights.

Since 2023, the League of Women Voters of West Virginia has released an annual legislative scorecard reviewing bills passed during the state’s legislative session. The league is a women-led, nonpartisan group that seeks to promote civic engagement, according to its website.

This year, the league set four areas of political priority in its assessment: strengthening democracy, safeguarding equal rights, creating a sustainable future and protecting children and families.

According to its 2025 scorecard, the league found that members of the West Virginia Legislature inadequately addressed these areas of focus.

The league chose to include 24 of the 243 bills that became law this year, and supported the passage of just two of these bills: Senate Bill 50, which requires municipal and state elections to be held on the same day, as well as House Bill 2880, which seeks to facilitate state efforts surrounding child welfare.

The league opposed each of the remaining 22 bills highlighted in the scorecard, suggesting they do not advance the group’s policy priorities — or even go against them.

League Co-President Judy Ball said the group does not select bills based on whether they support or oppose them, but instead based on whether they have a “material effect” on priority areas and residents of the state. She said this helps characterize the nature of each legislative session for residents who may review the scorecard.

“We recognize that most people in any state don’t have a whole lot of time to follow down into the weeds of what the legislature is doing,” Ball told West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “We do that so the voters don’t have to.”

Examining a select number of bills that passed into law makes following the state legislature “manageable” for residents, she said.

In particular, Ball said the league found that state legislators did not sufficiently address material needs in the state, notably including voting rights, foster care, child care, health access and environmental protection.

The scorecard is interactive, featuring specific details about each bill and also a tool to search how individual representatives voted on them. Ball said that means the tool can be useful for residents across the political spectrum.

“Even if people don’t agree with the league’s positions, we believe that the scorecard can be useful for them,” Ball said. “If we support something and you don’t support the league’s position, then you can look at it from the other direction, because all of the votes are there.”

Before the 2026 legislative session begins, state lawmakers will likely meet with their constituents to shape their policy objectives, Ball said. She hopes the scorecard can help residents better identify points of focus or concern to raise with their representatives.

“What came out of the legislative session didn’t meet the desires of the voters very well. There had been work done prior to the 2024 election around the state that discovered what people wanted their legislators to do, and what our scorecard shows is that’s not what the legislature did at all,” Ball said. “We’re hoping in the future that the legislature will pay more attention to what the people want.”

“Even though the legislature won’t be in session again until January, it doesn’t mean the voters can’t contact their legislators in the meantime,” she added.

WVPB has reached out to Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, via email for comment on the league’s scorecard.

To view the League of Women Voters of West Virginia’s 2025 legislative scorecard, visit the organization’s website.