Private nonprofit organizations whose primary purpose is to protect and promote the broad civil rights of groups and civil liberties of individuals, to work for the realization of specific social or political goals or to encourage the participation of people in the public policy debate.
Scope notes: USE Major Group R for legal rights organizations that use the courts to secure civil rights and liberties; USE Legal Services (I80) for organizations that focus on or provide legal services to individuals.
Includes: Organizations that work to improve relations between racial, ethnic, and cultural groups; advocacy and citizen action groups that work to change public policy and opinion in a variety of areas; organizations that use courts to protect and enlarge civil rights and liberties; and organizations that promote voter education and registration.
Excludes: Animal rights groups, (see D-Animal Related); or groups using advocacy as a method to achieve goals in a particular subject area such as food, housing and education. In these cases, use the common code 01 in the appropriate major group area.
See also: Common Code 01
Organizations that encourage citizens to participate in the political process, in a nonpartisan manner, by providing opportunities for political involvement, access to public officials, information that is necessary to make informed decisions at the ballot box or assistance in registering to vote.
Key words: Election Regulation; League of Women Voters; Voter Education; Voter Participation; Voter Registration; Voter Turnout
Scope notes: Excludes: Organizations that focus on issues relating to clean elections. Use Government & Public Administration (W20). Organizations that encourage citizen participation in community affairs. Use Citizen Participation (W24).
See also: Citizen Participation; Government and Public Administration