Top Priorities for 2026-27

Every year, members of the League of Women Voters of San Jose/Santa Clara discuss what issues should be our priorities for action/advocacy, education and/or study. The process begins with a program planning meeting early in the year, then final approval is given at our Annual Meeting usually held in June. Here are the issues we adopted for 2026-27 to help focus our work.

Making Democracy Work

Our ongoing priorities are:

Voter Registration & engagement, with special focus on youth
Candidate forums and ballot measure Pros & Cons presentations
VOTE411.org participation
Money in Politics--tracking campaign finance and independent expenditures.

Our expansion opportunities are:

Youth engagement & civics education. Partnering with the Registrar of Voters to bring civic education to high schools and colleges, with expanded programming in off-election seasons
Youth Council . Developing youth leadership and involvement with local government
Observer Corps. Monitoring local government meetings and reporting to the board and members
AI & election integrity. Tracking the impact of artificial intelligence and prediction markets on elections
Deeper awareness of LWVUS national activities and campaigns

Climate Change & Natural Resources

If you would like to help us work on our ongoing priorities (below), contact climatechange@lwvsjsc.org

Urban Forest Plan — addressing inadequate tree canopy in East San Jose
Water scarcity and conservation, especially related to data centers
Watchlist: Coyote Valley development
Watchlist: Climate Smart San Jose implementation

Watchlist Priorities

The following areas are actively monitored by our Action Committee. We hold League positions on each and will respond if local action is needed — but are not launching new programs at this time. Contact us at email action@lwvsjsc.org

Housing & Homelessness — Monitoring local jurisdiction actions on affordable housing and homelessness response
Immigration — Tracking local policies affecting our immigrant community, especially misinformation impacting San Jose’s Hispanic residents (roughly one-third of the city's population)
Good government practices – Watching for transparency issues or procedures that inhibit citizen understanding and involvement in policy decision-making.

National & California Priorities

Are you interested in following national or California priorities? You can learn and get involved: