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Action News - Persist & Continue to Speak Up for Democracy! 4.5.21

LWV Texas | Published on 4/5/2021
Democracy is Good for Business HE Butt quote
President's Message: Democracy is Good for Business!
Grace Chimene

In the wake of the extraordinary voter suppression legislation that passed in Georgia, business leaders have come forward to support safe and accessible voting for all citizens. One hundred and eighty-six companies signed on to the Civic Associations Joint Statement on Protecting Voter Access. Your Texas League is working with the two other Texas NAACP and Texas LULAC to engage the Texas business community.

You can reach out to businesses in your community to support voting rights and to stop these bad-for-democracy bills! Information on how businesses can join the task force is available on the Democracy is good for business webpage.

Be inspired that Texas business leaders and other corporate leaders are speaking up on voting and democracy. Visit Democracy is Good for Business. Sign your business up for the taskforce. Invite business leaders you know to join. Share the graphics with quotes from nationally recognized business leaders with a link to the page on social media.

We do not want to be the next Georgia! Encourage everyone you know to take action.
Thank you! Together we are empowering voters and defending democracy!
PS: For those in the Houston Area!
Join Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner today, April 5, at 3 PM for a Press Conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Mayor Sylvester Turner invites you to join him and a diverse group of community and business leaders at a news conference to discuss the attack on voting rights currently underway in the Texas Legislature. The Mayor shares the concerns of many that SB 7 and HB 6 are voter suppression bills that could lead to the disenfranchisement of voters of color and voters with disabilities.
Your Texas League in Action!
At the Capitol: Celebrate League Heroines at the Capitol
Janet Imhoff, Vice President - Advocacy
LWV Board Member Susan Schultz (Austin Area) was at the Capitol for more than 14 hours waiting to present testimony in opposition to HB 6 which creates barriers to many of the common activities involved in our election process. She finally turned in written testimony and went home tired but not defeated.

HB 6 creates barriers to providing assistance to voters, to voters accessing applications to vote by mail, to ensuring safe polling places by giving poll watchers more authority, and ties the hands of election officials.
In addition to the most egregious bills (HB 6 and SB 7), Voting Rights and Election Laws Issue Chair Cinde Weatherby (Austin Area) is working behind the scenes with partner organizations, legislative staff, and our Voting Rights Advocacy Team (Austin League members -Susan Schulz, Susan Miller, Geetha Lingham, Susana Carranza & Karen Phillips). They are tracking the progress of hundreds of other bills filed that would diminish voting in Texas. Many are now being set for public hearings.

Please use the new Action Alert to oppose HB 1026 that would drastically impact voter registration. As introduced, this ill-conceived bill would eliminate the Volunteer Deputy Registrar process and place the Secretary of State in charge of all voter registration.

Everyone - particularly VDRs - should take action now on HB 1026!
Check out Cinde's update with detailed talking points on Texas voting and elections bills here.
LWVTX Board Member and Redistricting issue Chair, Stephanie Swanson (Austin Area), testified in opposition to SB 11. Watch the testimony here.

The League believes that this drastic restructuring of the Court of Appeals fails to adequately represent the diversity of our state, shortchanges voters of color, and was drawn without input from groups protected under the Voting Rights Act.

We urge the Legislature to take steps to create a fair and open redistricting process so that the fundamental principle of equal justice under the law can be upheld for all Texans.
Click Here! Donate Now to Support Your League in Action!
Please take action on the current Action Alerts. Use the Action Center's Action Alerts and try the Letter to the Editor feature by clicking Media.
  • Urgent - Voters Deserve Respect! Reject House Bill 6
  • Urgent - Fight for Democracy! Reject Senate Bill 7
  • Urgent - Let Women Decide What is Best for Themselves!
  • NEW - Don't Mess with Our VDRs!
  • NEW - Oppose SB 11 and the Restructuring of the Courts of Appeals
  • NEW - Do Not Arm Election Judges with Guns
  • NEW - Support the "Live Well Texas Program" to Provide Medicaid Coverage to More Adult Texans
  • NEW - Protect Transgender Youth! Say No to SB 29
  • Stop Asian-American Hate Crimes!
  • We Need an Action Plan for Climate Change!

Don't forget to sign up for text notices of League Action Alerts by texting ACTION to 80123. This will be for last-minute priorities.
Litigation Update: Crystal Hobbs-Mason Case

We are very excited to share that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Crystal Mason’s Petition for Discretionary Review. This means that the Court of Criminal Appeals has accepted the case for review. The court has not yet set an argument date, but we expect that it will be soon.

In 2019, the League of Women Voters of Texas joined as amicus in Mason-Hobbs v. Texas, arguing that genuine confusion around voter eligibility does not violate Texas state law. The brief was filed in support of Ms. Mason-Hobbs who was sentenced to five years in jail for casting a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election. Mason-Hobbs believed she was eligible to vote after previously being released from prison, but her voting status was complicated by the fact that she was still on federal supervised release. Her provisional ballot was ultimately denied, and her vote did not count towards any election.
Local Leagues in Action!
Midland and Comal Area Leagues Focus on Health Care
LWV Comal Area asked: Why does prosperous Texas rank among the worst for health care and have the highest uninsured rate in the nation?

Andrea Stewart Roa, a health educator, consultant, and LWVTX Health Care Chair addressed these questions and the League position and actions to provide adequate funding for an adequate health care system for all Texans.
Healthcare in Midland

LWV Midland hosted Dr. Kit Bredimus, Chief Nursing Officer at Midland Memorial Hospital, and Dr. Timothy Benton, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, to speak on a Facebook livestream event. Focusing on Midland, they discussed community health care and all things COVID-19.

Take a break from the action at the Capitol and watch strategies that worked for the women's suffrage advocates in Texas!
Photo Courtesy of the Austin History Center
Keep up with the most current League news! Follow LWVTX online!



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