Making Democracy Work

What is League Easy Web?

Watch and listen to an 11 minute video for an overview of League Easy Web (requires Adobe Flash). Or view it on YouTube. (Note that the page examples use a past page design for LEW and the number of users continues to increase, but otherwise the description of the product is up-to-date).

See also a one page PDF flyer with some Questions and Answers about LEW.


See the presentation given in Washington, DC at the 2012 LWVUS Convention.

The Basics of LEW

LEW is a simple and quick way for your League to create and maintain your own Web site. Even non-technical members of your League can easily generate a basic Web site, and then very quickly learn to develop a more advanced one.

1. The basic LEW Web site includes pre-built pages of the kind often found in League Web sites: Elections, Voter Education, About the League, etc. These pages already have content and structure, but they can be customized as needed.

2. You may create additional pages on any subject you choose, based on the activities and interests of your individual League--your local positions on issues, news about local events, times/locations of voter registration efforts, etc.

4. You can add, delete or change your Web pages at any time.

5. You can also have a "Members Only" Web site.

6. The LEW Web site has robust functionalities such as a Calendar, FAQs, automatic Table of Contents, etc.

7. There is a common look to LEW Web sites, a "League brand," within which your League can have its own unique content.

What resources does your League need to use LEW?

First, and most importantly, you do not need: a web page designer or anyone with knowledge of HTML or website software. Anyone comfortable working with a word processor and browsing the web has enough technical skills to work with LEW.

What you do need:

  1. A connection to the Internet.
  2. An understanding within your League, particularly within your Board of Directors, as to what you want to accomplish with your own Web site.
  3. Members willing and able to build and maintain the Web site.

Can you actually try using LEW to build a Web site before making a final decision?

Absolutely! Just go to Building a LEW Web Site and follow the instructions. You can do as much or as little as you would like to try out the system, without being charged for anything. It is only when your League has made its final decision, and wants your Web site to "go live" and be viewable by the public, that your League will be billed.

What are the benefits of LEW for a League which has never had a Web site before?

A LEW site can be built and maintained totally by non-technical people, so it will be much easier to find members willing and able to serve as webmasters. In order to share the work, several people in your League can have access LEW to maintain your Web site. People responsible for a particular area or program can have responsibility for that part of the Web site.

Using LEW, your League can have an online presence very quickly! One of our testers has said, "I see that the program is very intuitive, even for novices." And even better, your League can start with a very simple, basic Web site, and then add new capabilities and functions as you feel comfortable developing them.

What are the benefits of LEW if your League already has a Web site?

Our experience is that over half of recent new LEW Leagues already had a Web site and chose to upgrade to LEW.

If you already have your own Web site, consider whether LEW can make it much easier for your League to maintain and develop your Web site.

  • A LEW site can be built and maintained totally by non-technical people, so it will be much easier to find members willing and able to serve as webmasters .

  • Organizations which buy their own Web site software or have qualified programmers build a unique website almost always face the challenge that everything having to do with that Web site is dependent on one or a very few technical people.

  • Equally, it might be very hard on the key technical person(s) since there frequently is no one to help with the burden of maintaining and developing the Web site.

One of the most common reasons to change is to give more people in your League the ability to be part of your Web site team. People responsible for a particular area or program can have responsibility for that part of the Web site.

  • This approach minimizes the pressure on everyone, and gains the benefit of using the different kinds of talent your League may have available.

  • And you will always have the ready assistance of our LEW support group for any technical issues.

On the other hand, if you currently have a very sophisticated and interactive Web site with your own programs, you should carefully consider whether you wish to change to LEW. While LEW will allow you do things like embed "widgets" and forms built by other services like Surveymonkey and integrate with PayPal, we do not allow you to install programs to run our servers. We also do not offer a database service.

Where can you get more information?

Extensive help is built into the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on this website. Please check these first if you have any questions. Or for more information, contact our LEW administrator and webmaster at support@lwvnet.org or 408-982-6641. Or call the LWV California State Office at 916-442-7215.

Where can you see League Web sites built with LEW?

If you would like to see some great examples of actual Web pages built by Leagues around the country, go to Building a LEW Web Site: Beginning Steps. You can send an email to the webmaster of any of these sites if you have questions about their experiences when building their sites.

How much does it cost to use LEW?

There are two LEW charges: an initial (one-time) setup fee of $100, plus an annual fee of $200 (as of 7/1/09). (Check with your state League to see if they offer local Leagues a LEW subsidy, as some do.) We believe that these charges are very reasonable and competitive in the marketplace. They are not charged until your LEW site is ready to go public, so you can start building your site and completely evaluate whether you want to use LEW before any fees have to be paid.