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 Time for Voter Dog
Put your “Voter Dog - Time to Vote! Early Vote Now!” sign out now, take it down after early voting ends October 30, and store it for the next election. Our goal is for people to recognize this sign (election after election) as a fun reminder that it's time to early vote!
👉 Need a sign? We have just a few left! Contact 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). In La Grange, pick one up anytime from Judy Balch’s front porch at 318 S. Washington.
| | |  |  | 💬 Read It? Skip It? Tell Us!
We’ve been sending the Weekly Voter for a while now, and we want to make sure it’s worth your time. Which sections do you read? What would you like more of? Has anything here moved you to act? Our short survey takes about 3 minutes, and your name is optional. Your answers will help shape what comes to your inbox every Monday.
👉 Take the Survey | 📝 From the League Leaders Blog: Take a Friend to Vote
Some of the most powerful civic engagement happens “in the front seat of a pickup or across a kitchen table.” In this week’s post, Janis asks each of us to invite one person to vote with us, and shares ideas for helping the friend without a ride, the first-time voter, and the neighbor who’s nervous about the machines.
👉 Read the blog post |  | Happening Locally
📣 Early Voting Is Finally Here!
Early voting starts today and runs through Friday, October 30. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Before you go, print our Ballot Worksheet, jot down your choices, and bring it with you, since phones aren’t allowed in the voting booth.
👉 Early voting locations, hours, candidates, and ballot measures for all five counties - Voters Guide
👉 Print the Ballot Worksheet
📚 Voters Guides: Spanish Edition Is Here!
The Spanish edition of our Voters Guide has arrived, along with VOTE411 bookmarks in Spanish and English.
👉 Pick them up from Helen Niesner (512-497-1561) or Janis Richardson (361-772-3228).
💌 Election Hero Day: Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20
Drop off a thank-you card at your county elections office, or let the county election staff and poll workers know you appreciate them when you vote. And to the many League members serving as poll workers this election: your long days at the polls keep democracy running in our five counties. Thank you for showing up for all of us!
👉 Learn more about Election Hero Day - LWVUS
📖 League Book Group: Wednesday, October 21 – 11:30 am – Weimar Library
We're discussing The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Optional lunch to follow. Haven’t finished the book? Haven’t started it? Come anyway! Book Group is a no-shame zone, and some of our best conversations come from people who read the last chapter first, skimmed the middle, or just like a good discussion.
👉 Contact Jaci Elliott (713-823-1891) for more information
🍽️ Save the Date: Colorado County Member Lunch Meeting
Thursday, October 29, 12:00 noon, Lamberto's Restaurant in Columbus. More details next week.
👉 Contact Janice MacBride (979-732-1562) for more information.
🌟 Help Us Make History: Women Making History, March 14, 2027
Our biggest event of the year is coming up on Sunday, March 14, 2027, and we’re building the volunteer team now. Planning gets underway in earnest after the election, and there’s a role for everyone. You could help spread the word so people nominate remarkable women in the community, or serve as a judge for the community nominations or the student writing showcase. Or lend a hand with organizing, decorating, welcoming guests, or behind-the-scenes work. Raise your hand now, and we’ll be in touch.
👉 Interested? Contact Helen Niesner (512-497-1561).
✍️ 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. 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). |  | Three Things to Do for Democracy This Week
🗳️ Vote Early, and Bring Others Along. Cast your ballot this week, then help someone else do the same. Offer a ride, turn it into a coffee date, or just ask a friend, “Have you voted yet?” Problems at the polls? Call the nonpartisan Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE.
👉 Find Early Voting Locations - Texas My Voter Portal
👉 Preview Your Ballot - VOTE411
📬 Voting by Mail? Apply by October 23. Texans 65 and older, voters with a disability, and those who’ll be away from their county during the election can vote by mail. Applications must be received by your county’s early voting clerk by Friday, October 23, and must include a Texas driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number that matches the voter’s registration. This week, check in with an older neighbor, friend, or relative who might want to vote from home and remind them of the deadline.
👉 What Older Texans Need to Know About Voting by Mail - KUT News
📚 Put a Voters Guide in Someone’s Hands. Early voting is when people go looking for information, and our Voters Guide gives them the nonpartisan basics. This week, take a short stack to your next meeting, Bible study, or club. Ask your dentist’s office, doctor’s office, salon, or feed store if you can leave a few in the waiting area. Or post a link to our online Voters Guide or VOTE411 in a group email, church newsletter, or on your Facebook page. Printed guides come in English and Spanish, along with VOTE411 bookmarks.
👉 Need guides? Contact Janice MacBride (Colorado), Susana Weber (DeWitt), Helen Niesner or Karen Bookout (Fayette), or Janis Richardson (Lavaca & Gonzales).
👉 Our Voters Guide online (English and Spanish) on our League website
👉 VOTE411.org |  | Sharing a few headlines worth your attention this week:
Texas Tops 19 Million Registered Voters, a New Record. More than 19 million Texans are now registered to vote, the most in state history and up 2% since the March primary. The jump comes even as the state is still working through its backlog of delayed DPS registrations.
👉 Read more - The Texas Tribune
The League Goes to Court Over Texas’ Voter Registration Glitch. A DPS software error kept more than 500,000 voter registrations and address changes made through the state’s online driver’s license portal from reaching county registrars until just before the election. On Oct. 9, the League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas Civic Fund sued to enforce the 2021 settlement, won in an earlier League lawsuit, that created this option in the first place. Closer to home, Fayette County reports processing 487 delayed records, including 213 new registrations, by the Oct. 5 deadline.
👉 Read more - Votebeat
Judge Rules DOJ’s Voter-Roll Program Unlawful. A federal judge ruled Oct. 9 that the Justice Department broke federal law by running states’ voter rolls through an immigration database to flag possible noncitizens. A ban on purges within 90 days of an election may limit the ruling’s effect before Nov. 3.
👉 Read more - Al Jazeera
Rural Maternity Wards Close as Medicaid Cuts Take Hold. Rural hospitals are closing labor and delivery units as federal Medicaid cuts take effect, and a KFF analysis finds expectant mothers in rural areas could face much longer drives to give birth, in some places more than two hours. In Texas, Medicaid pays for about half of all births.
👉 Read more - NPR/KUNC
|  | Listen: How to Get More Americans to Vote
What does it take to help people who feel left out of elections take their place at democracy’s table? On the Kettering Foundation’s podcast The Context, host and historian Alex Lovit talks with three community activists from Dayton, Ohio: Destiny Brown, Robert Mackey II, and Kevin O’Donnell. All three have spent years educating and encouraging voters in their hometown. It’s a good listen as we each think about who we can bring along this election.
👉 Listen - The Context, Kettering Foundation
How do we measure up at home? Our five counties have outvoted Texas in every election since 2022. In the 2022 midterm, 53.1% of our registered voters turned out, compared with 45.9% statewide. That’s something to be proud of, but it also means nearly half of us stayed home. Our League’s fact sheet and companion article dig into who votes, who doesn’t, and why.
👉 Just the Facts: Voter Participation in South Central Texas | | | 💬 Read It? Skip It? Tell Us!
Did you miss it at the top? Our 3-minute reader survey is open, and we’d love to hear from you!
👉 Take the Survey | Remember Fall? 🍁
Our first little cool front has finally arrived! Enjoy it, and soak up this view from Janis’s trip to Maine last week for the full fall experience. | League of Women Voters of South Central Texas
PO Box 78, Hallettsville, TX 77964
361.772.3228
lwvsouthcentraltx.org
lwvsouthcentraltx@gmail.com | |