Welcome to LWVAA's Weekly VOTER
The Weekly VOTER is here to make sure everyone stays in the know about opportunities to empower voters and defend democracy in our community. Like what you see? Please share with your friends!
| | The Austin Chronicle. Photo Credit John Anderson | "Nonpartisan doesn't mean 'neutral.' It means that we are protecting the Constitution."
| Three actions to support democracy
| The Future of Texas Forum - Part I
On Saturday, January 31, Beyond Boundaries, in collaboration with LWVAA and in partnership with the Austin Area Urban League, presents a community-centered, nonpartisan event providing clear, accessible information about the 2026 election: what's on the ballot, how voting works, and what's at stake for our communities.
๐ Saturday, January 31
๐ฐ๏ธ 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
๐ Pflugerville Library, 1008 Pfluger St W, Pflugerville, 78660.
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League & Community Events
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Looking for opportunities to support ๐ณ๏ธ democracy?
The LWVAA calendar is here to help!
Help wanted! Tabling Request Coordinator
Empower voters and support democracy at events across Austin from the comfort of your home!
Organizations and businesses frequently contact LWVAA requesting a voter registration or information table for events. We need a volunteer to be a Tabling Request Coordinator. You don't need to be a Volunteer Deputy Registrar (VDR), but you will need to interact with VDRs via email, Slack, etc., to track tabling requests, follow up with questions as needed, and keep our internal spreadsheet-based calendars updated.
Time commitment: One hour a week or less, most of the year. Near major voter registration deadlines (e.g., ahead of the March primary and the November general election), the Tabling Request Coordinator will likely need to dedicate 30 minutes a day on average to keep up with requests and the calendar.
But that's not all! Our Voters Service team has volunteer roles galore, whether you want to register voters or whether you'd like to support the team behind the scenes.
Interested? Contact Voters Service and help LWVAA show up anywhere people gather with clipboards, answers, and nonpartisan energy.
Register voters with the League
๐ณ๏ธ Saturdays: Register voters at Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline
Contact Voters Service for information on voter registration opportunities. |  |
More volunteer opportunities
Learn about our current volunteer opportunities here, or contact our Volunteer team for more information.
| | Grace Chimene, Commissioner Ann Howard, Susan Hart | |
Get to know your local government
One of an occasional series of interviews with local elected officials
Travis County is governed by a group of elected officials: four commissioners, each representing a geographic region of the county, and a county judge.Together, they make up the Travis County Commissioners Court, the chief policy-making and administrative branch of county government.
Among its many functions, the court:
- sets the tax rate,
- determines fees for many county services, and
- determines how the collected revenues will be distributed among different county departments to provide services to the community.
LWVAA members Grace Chimene and Susan Hart recently interviewed Commissioner Ann Howard, who represents Precinct 3.
Q: What are some of the challenges facing Travis County in the coming years?
Overall, we are dealing with uncertainty: weโre facing lean budgets, unknowns at the federal level, and limits on local authority imposed by the state. This is a time to be strategic and thoughtful. With that in mind, we are addressing some specific issues:
- Affordable child and after-school care: in 2025, Travis County launched a newly branded and voter-approved childcare fund program, Raising Travis County, aimed at reducing the childcare waitlist and improving care quality countywide.
- Affordable housing: the County has contracted to construct ten new supportive housing developments to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. In addition, the County invested in Austin Habitat for Humanity to develop 48 affordable homes in Eastern Travis County.
- Enhanced criminal justice system: the County is one of seven in Texas that has implemented some form of Counsel at First Appearance (CAFA). In partnership with the City and non-profits, the County is also participating in the Crisis Care Diversion Pilot which diverts people from jail, when appropriate and safe, to mental health treatment.
- Water and land conservation: Water is our most precious resource. Development pressures, outdated state water laws, and climate change are putting enormous strain on our rivers and aquifers. The County can play a role to ensure that the generations ahead of us all have access to water.
|  | Watch and share โจ Why We Vote โจ posts!
- โVoting matters because itโs both a right and a privilege, one that so many people fought hard to secure.โ โ Trina Robinson, President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in Austin - Watch here
- โVoting is how people use their voice to let government know what we want, and how we show up for our communities.โ โ Mary, Travis County Voter Registration Department Watch here
Be inspired to register to vote and vote in every election.
๐ณ๏ธ Use your voice
๐ Protect hard-won rights
๐ Democracy works better when we all show up
Your vote matters. Always. |
๐๏ธTake action with LWVUS
๐ Read news from LWVUS
| ๐ฐ Keep up with democracy in the news
| Highlighted League & community events
Key dates for the primary election
๐ฌ Thu, Jan 1: First day to apply for a mail ballot
๐ Mon, Feb 2: Last day to register to vote
๐๏ธ Tue, Feb 17: Early voting begins
โ๏ธ Fri, Feb 20: Last day to apply for a mail ballot (received, not postmarked)
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Fri, Feb 27: Last day of early voting
๐ณ๏ธ Tue, Mar 3: Election Day!!!
๐ฎ Tue, Mar 3: Mail ballot must be received by 7:00 p.m. learn more - Vote By Mail
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Empower voters and support democracy at your events!
๐ฃ๏ธ Request a speaker or voter registration table here.
| Gift memberships to any League can now be purchased online! To purchase a gift membership, log into or create an account at portal.lwv.org and click the "Gift" link in the Grow Our Community box. You do not have to be a League member to purchase a gift membership.
| If you've read this far, it must be worth it.
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|  | Dogs for Democracy
Franklin visits the U.S. Capitol.
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| The League shall not support or oppose any political party or candidates. It may take action on governmental measures and policies in the public interest after significant study and consensus is reached. | |