Welcome to the Weekly Voter, your League's Monday Newsletter
Democracy runs on people like us, and every week you'll find ways to help: concrete actions, news worth knowing, and what our chapter is doing across five counties.
Thanks for being here. Let's get to work! |  |  |  | 🎉 It's Official: 100 Members!
Our League has reached a milestone: 100 members across Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, and Lavaca counties! When a small group of us founded this League in Lavaca County in 2018, we hoped neighbors across our rural corner of Texas would want to join us in making democracy work. You did, and here we are. Thank you to every member who has registered voters, handed out Voters Guides, staffed a table, written a column, or simply shown up. And a warm welcome to our newest members! Know someone who should be part of the next 100? Forward this newsletter and invite them to join us.
👉 Join the League or Renew Your Membership
🐶 Voter Dog Goes Out Next Monday!
Early voting starts Monday, October 19. Put your "Time to Vote! Early Vote Now!" sign out that morning, take it down after early voting ends October 30, and store it for the next election. (Scroll down to see Voter Dog's early days in Lavaca County!)
👉 Need a sign? Contact your county liaison: Janice MacBride (Colorado), Susana Weber (DeWitt), or Karen Bookout or Carolyn McCrory (Fayette). In Lavaca, Gonzales, or anywhere else, contact Janis Richardson (361-772-3228) or Helen Niesner (512-497-1561).
📚 Voters Guide Check-In
Did you leave a stack of Voters Guides at the feed store, salon, or coffee shop? This week, stop back by. Restock if they're running low, and thank the manager. As you go about your week, ask friends and neighbors, "Have you seen our Voters Guide?" If they haven't, hand them one. Early voting starts next Monday, and this is when people are looking for information.
👉 Need more guides? Contact Janice MacBride (Colorado), Susana Weber (DeWitt), Helen Niesner or Karen Bookout (Fayette), or Janis Richardson (Lavaca & Gonzales).
👉 Read the Voters Guide on our website. The Spanish edition is coming soon!
💌 Election Hero Day: Tuesday, October 20
Early voting is a long, busy stretch for county election staff and poll workers, our neighbors who make democracy work. On October 20, drop off a thank-you card at your county elections office, or simply say "thank you" when you vote.
👉 Learn more about Election Hero Day - LWVUS
✍️ Calling All Writers!
Do you enjoy writing? Our League has a small team that regularly writes columns and articles for local newspapers, sharing nonpartisan information about voting, local government, and League issues with readers across our five counties. (See Helen's latest column in Dig a Little Deeper!) We're looking for 1–2 more members to join the team. No experience needed, just an interest in writing and a few hours here and there.
👉 Interested? Contact Janis Richardson (361-772-3228).
📖 League Book Group
Wednesday, October 21, 11:30 am, place TBA
Our next book is The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
👉 Contact Jaci Elliott (713-823-1891) for more information. |  | 📝 From the League Leaders Blog: Staying in the Game, Together
When the news about voting rights and democracy gets heavy, it's easy to feel like giving up. "Discouragement is a strategy, and it works on people who are alone," Janis writes. In this week's post, she explains why showing up together keeps us going, and how you can help a discouraged friend stay in the game too.
👉 Read the blog post |  | Three things to do for democracy this week:
🪪 Check Your ID Before You Head to the Polls. Early voting starts Monday, October 19. Texas accepts seven forms of photo ID, including a Texas driver's license, a Texas Election ID Certificate, a U.S. passport, and a military ID. Voters 18 to 69 can use an ID that expired up to four years ago. Voters 70 and older can use an expired ID no matter how long ago it expired. If you don't have an approved ID, you still have options. Check yours now, then help an older neighbor or first-time voter check theirs.
👉 Required Identification - VoteTexas.gov
🎉 Make Early Voting an Occasion. Early voting opens Monday, October 19. This week, pick your day and invite someone to go with you: a neighbor, a grandchild voting for the first time, or a friend who doesn't get out much. Grab coffee or lunch afterward and make a morning of it. Going together turns a chore into a celebration, and it's one of the surest ways to help someone actually get to the polls.
👉 Find Early Voting Locations - Texas My Voter Portal
🍎 Learn How to Defend SNAP in Texas. Wednesday, Oct. 14, noon. More than 500,000 Texans have lost SNAP benefits in the past year, most of them children, older adults, or people with disabilities. When the Legislature meets in January, lawmakers will need to find about $2 billion to keep the program going. Join Texas Impact's free Zoom to learn what's at stake for rural communities like ours and how to speak up.
👉 Register - Texas Impact |  | Sharing a few headlines worth your attention this week:
School Book Bans Hit a New Record, and Texas Leads the Way. PEN America counted nearly 12,000 school book bans over the past year, covering more than 7,300 titles. That's the highest total since the group began tracking in 2021. Texas and Florida together account for about 95% of all bans. Books about race, sexuality, and gender identity are the ones most often removed.
👉 Read more - USA Today
Want to Know How Flock Cameras Are Used? That Could Cost You. About 13,000 Flock license-plate cameras now operate across Texas. The Texas Tribune found that agencies are making it harder to see how those cameras are used. North Richland Hills billed $2.3 million for records, and Victoria quoted $5,000. Sealy, by contrast, shared 400,000 pages for free. Only 16 agencies publicly share search records.
👉 Read more - The Texas Tribune
Is Texas Ready for a Contentious Election? Trust in elections is near an all-time low, and Texas has one of its most competitive races in years. On the TribCast podcast, Votebeat reporter Natalia Contreras explains voter "suspense lists," a lapse in DPS voter registrations, and what local election officials are worried about as early voting approaches.
👉 Listen - The Texas Tribune
Supreme Court Opens a Term Full of Democracy Cases. The Supreme Court's new term began October 5. Later this term, the justices will decide whether states can require proof of citizenship to vote. They will also decide whether the federal government can detain immigrants without bond hearings and deport them to third countries. Both cases involve League priorities.
👉 Read more - AP News |  | Watch: What the Law Says About Troops and Federal Agents at the Polls
Tuesday, Oct. 13, 10:30 a.m. Central. With early voting a week away, the cross-partisan National Task Force on Election Crises is hosting a free webinar on the legal limits on military, National Guard, and federal law enforcement, including ICE, at or near polling places. Speakers include a former Kentucky Secretary of State, a former Secretary of the Army, and a former Justice Department civil rights attorney.
👉 Register - National Task Force on Election Crises
Read: The General Welfare: An Old Idea Revisited
The Preamble to the Constitution says one purpose of government is to "promote the general Welfare." In 1787, "welfare" meant something closer to "faring well," the flourishing of a whole community. In this month's League column for the Fayette County Record, Co-President Helen Niesner traces that idea from colonial poor laws to the GI Bill and Medicare. She makes the case that security is "the floor freedom stands on."
👉 Read Helen's column - LWV South Central Texas |  | Voter Dog Is Back! 🐶
Remember these? When our League was just getting started in Lavaca County, Voter Dog began cheering on voters from yards and storefronts around the county. Now we're in five counties, and Voter Dog is ready to grin from yards all over South Central Texas. Early voting starts Monday, October 19.
👉 Don't have your sign yet? Contact your county liaison or text Janis (361-772-3228). | League of Women Voters of South Central Texas
PO Box 78, Hallettsville, TX 77964
361.772.3228
lwvsouthcentraltx.org
lwvsouthcentraltx@gmail.com | |