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! |  |  | | Remembering Dolores Huerta (1930–2026)
“Sí, se puede”: Yes, It Can Be Done
Last week our nation lost a true hero. Labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta died Oct. 28 at her home in Bakersfield, California, at 96. At a time when few women held leadership roles in the labor movement, she co-founded, with Cesar Chavez, the union that became the United Farm Workers. She stood at the bargaining table to win farmworkers their first health and benefit plans. She registered Mexican American voters, championed women’s rights, and urged Latinas to run for office. She gave a movement its rallying cry, “Sí, se puede,” and in 2012 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Schools across Texas bear her name.
As we head to the polls, let’s pause to reflect with gratitude on a trailblazer who spent her long life proving that ordinary people, organized and determined, can change the world. Yes, it can be done.
👉 Read more - CBS News |  | What's Happening with the League
🤝 Growing Our League in Gonzales County
On Friday, Nov. 6, at 8 a.m., our League will host the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Chamber Chatter at the Chamber offices, 304 St. Louis St. It’s a morning meet-and-greet for local business and community leaders, and a chance to introduce the League, make new connections, and invite Gonzales County neighbors to join us. Know someone in Gonzales County who’d make a great League member? Let Janis Richardson know (361-772-3228).
📅 L eague Gatherings
Lavaca County Member Coffee: Tues., Nov. 10, 9:30 a.m., Shinerville Coffee House, 803 N. Avenue D, Shiner. Join our every-other-month Lavaca County team coffee to connect, reflect, and see what we can cook up!
Colorado County Team: Fourth Thursday of each month at noon, Lamberto’s, 616 Walnut St., Columbus. No meetings in November or December; meetings resume Jan. 28.
🌎 Protecting the Rights of Immigrants: What Can We Do Now?
Join the LWVUS Immigration Discussion Group on Zoom on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m. Central. Susan Martin and Lydia Zepeda led the work on the League’s new national position on immigrant rights. They’ll share how local Leagues can use it to speak up with state and local governments. Want to help the LWVTX immigration team track what’s happening in Texas? Email nkral@lwvtexas.org.
👉 Join on Zoom
🎄 You’re Invited: League Holiday Party! Sunday, December 6, 3–5 p.m., Home of member Kathie Bailey, 606 S. Washington St., La Grange
Save the date and celebrate a big year with League friends from all five counties! Bring a friend, especially someone who might want to join the League. It’s the perfect way to meet the people behind our work. More details to come.
🏛️ Head to Austin With Us: Lobby Days & the Making Democracy Work® Dinner, Monday–Tuesday, Feb. 22–23, 2027
Join League members from across Texas for Lobby Days. Advocacy training is Monday, Feb. 22, at the Holiday Inn Midtown, followed by visits with our legislators at the Capitol Tuesday morning. That Monday evening, LWV Texas hosts its annual Making Democracy Work® Dinner at the Bullock Texas State History Museum, with keynote speaker Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney and author of Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy. Dinner tickets are on sale now ($250; sales close Feb. 5). Our League will carpool and share rooms to keep costs down.
👉 Get Dinner Tickets
👉 Want to go with our team? Text Janis Richardson at 361-772-3228 or email janis@janisrichardson.com.
🌟 Nominate a Woman Making History!
Do you know a woman in our five counties who makes a difference: a teacher, farmer, volunteer, business owner, or quiet leader who holds her community together? Nominations are now open for Women Making History 2027. From the nominations we receive, we’ll select five area women to honor at our celebration on Sunday, March 14. Nominations are due January 15, 2027. Nominate online, or download a paper form.
👉 Nominate someone - LWV South Central Texas
👉 Questions? Contact Helen Niesner (512-497-1561).
|  | Three Things to Do for Democracy This Week
🚗 Get One More Voter There. You’ve voted, so now help someone else. Call a friend or neighbor who hasn’t voted yet, or offer a ride. If a question about their registration comes up at the polls, poll workers know how to handle most of them, and they can call the county elections office to check.
Here’s what they may need to know:
- Moved within the county, or on the “suspense list”? Voters may be asked to complete a Statement of Residence form before they vote.
- Showing up as registered in more than one county? This is a known glitch this year. The Secretary of State (1-800-252-VOTE) can help the county fix it.
- Still can’t be resolved? Ask for a provisional ballot. Election officials will review it afterward.
Questions? Call 866-OUR-VOTE.
👉 Find Polling Places - VoteTexas.gov
📊 Last Day: Speak Up on the Census. Comments on the proposal to count only U.S. citizens and green-card holders when dividing up seats in Congress are due today, Nov. 2. The League opposes the change. It takes just a few minutes.
👉 Submit a Comment - LWVUS
🤝 Be a Calm, Trusted Voice When the Results Come In. Results posted on election night are unofficial. Counties still have to count late-arriving mail ballots, ballots from military and overseas voters, and provisional ballots before results are final. When rumors fly, point friends to your county elections office and VoteTexas.gov, not social media.
👉 Official Election Information - VoteTexas.gov |  | Close to Home: News from Our Five Counties
All Five Counties: We Turned Out! By the close of early voting, 28,567 voters across our five counties had cast ballots, 39.3% of registered voters. Colorado County led with 43.5%. Fayette County’s 7,150 early votes passed early voting in both the 2018 and 2022 midterms, and Lavaca County beat its early vote total from the 2024 presidential election. In Gonzales County, 38.9% voted early, already close to the 44.2% who voted in all of the 2022 midterm, early and Election Day combined. And since March, all five counties have added voters to the rolls, including DeWitt County, which had been losing registered voters. Statewide, more than 7.7 million Texans voted early, over 40% of registered voters, a new record.
— Official county early voting totals; past-year comparisons as reported in The Fayette County Record and Hallettsville Tribune-Herald; statewide figures from the Texas Tribune.
Fayette & Lavaca: Immigration Enforcement in Our Counties. Fayette County commissioners voted 4–0 on Oct. 22 to renew a disaster declaration that keeps the county in Operation Lone Star, the state’s border program, after several residents spoke against it. In Lavaca County, the sheriff reported completing a year in ICE’s 287(g) partnership programs, and the county was awarded $516,309 in Operation Lone Star grant funds.
— As reported in The Fayette County Record and the Hallettsville Tribune-Herald
Fayette: La Grange Hospital Clears a Major Hurdle. The state approved a license on Oct. 29 for Progressive Health Group to operate the La Grange hospital, one of the final steps toward reopening the facility, which closed in 2023. No reopening date has been set.
— As reported in The Fayette County Record |  | Sharing a Few Headlines Worth Your Attention This Week
A Win for New Citizens and the League. On Oct. 15, a federal court in Maryland permanently blocked a 2025 federal rule that barred nonpartisan groups like the League from registering new citizens to vote at naturalization ceremonies. The League of Women Voters and Campaign Legal Center brought the lawsuit, so Leagues across the country can keep welcoming America’s newest citizens with a voter registration form.
👉 Read more - Campaign Legal Center
Nearly 2 Million Texans Are on the Voter “Suspense List.” You Can Still Vote. About 1.8 million Texans have been flagged because a county thinks they may have moved, often after a jury summons or registration card was returned in the mail. Being on the list doesn’t cancel your registration. If you haven’t moved, sign a Statement of Residence at the polls and vote. Still stuck? Ask for a provisional ballot, or call 866-OUR-VOTE.
👉 Read more - KERA/Texas Standard
Texas SNAP Enrollment Hits a 17-Year Low. In September, 2.8 million Texans were enrolled in SNAP, the fewest since 2009 and a 20.8% drop from a year earlier, the steepest yearly decline in two decades. Children account for more than half the losses, and rural areas, where participation runs higher, are hit hard.
👉 Read more - Texas Tribune
State Suspends Data Center Permits After Watchdogs Find Pause Ignored. After watchdog groups found the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had kept approving data center permits despite Gov. Abbott’s Sept. 21 pause, the agency shut its online permitting system and suspended at least 17 permits for data center projects. The groups say clearing and grading at those sites must now stop, and they’re calling for a full moratorium.
👉 Read more - Houston Public Media |  | This Week's League Leaders Blog: Holding Our Breath
Election Day should feel like a celebration, yet many of us are anxious: about interference at the polls, whether every ballot will be counted, and how people will react to the results. In her new post, Janis explains why we’re better prepared than it may seem, from election officials’ contingency plans to Election Protection volunteers and the courts and laws that have held before. Her ask: vote, look out for your neighbors, stay calm, and report problems instead of passing along rumors. As she writes, “Our democracy is stronger than our fears.”
👉 Read the blog post |  | One to Listen, One to Read
Listen: Dolores Huerta in Her Own Words
For a change of pace: women’s leadership is at the heart of our League’s work, and few women have led like Dolores Huerta. On Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Wiser Than Me podcast, she tells her own story: the 1965 grape strike, the birth of “Sí se puede,” raising 11 children, and a lifetime of organizing. Her advice to all of us: “You can be the hero of your own story.”
👉 Listen - Wiser Than Me
Read: What Happens After Election Day?
Voting is only one step. This short Campaign Legal Center explainer walks through what comes next: the canvass, when every eligible ballot is counted and checked; certification, when officials sign off on the final results; and, for congressional races, the seating of new members in January.
👉 Read - Campaign Legal Center |  | 🐾 Dog-Tired and Proud of It!
Voter Dog’s work is almost done for this election, and this pup has the right idea. Thank you to every League member who put out signs, handed out Voter Guides, drove neighbors to vote, and worked the polls. One last job: Early voting is over, so it's time to pull up your Voter Dog sign (if you haven’t already) and store it somewhere dry. She’ll be back on duty for the next election! | | | 💬 Read It? Skip It? Tell Us!
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👉 Take the Survey | League of Women Voters of South Central Texas
PO Box 78, Hallettsville, TX 77964
361.772.3228
lwvsouthcentraltx.org
lwvsouthcentraltx@gmail.com | |