Redistricting Virtual Public Hearings Start This Week. Sign Up Today! 

The Texas Legislature is about to embark on the 2021 Redistricting Cycle, and both the House and Senate Redistricting Committees have scheduled virtual public input hearings that will take place over the next two weeks.  

Public comments at the Committee hearings will be used to assist the Legislature when it draws district boundaries. Speaking up about your community is critical to ensuring district lines are drawn to keep your community whole and grouped with nearby communities with similar interests. This ensures that your voice is heard by your elected leaders across all kinds of government decisions.

With the release of the 2020 Census data, communities now have the ability to see where population and demographic changes have occurred over the past decade.  If you live in a community that has become more diverse, please consider describing this growth in your testimony.  Legislators will be required to take these demographic changes into consideration in order to draw districts that comply with the Voting Rights Act.  

There are several resources available to help you visualize the 2020 Census data:

• The Texas Demographic Center created interactive tools to help data users analyze the newly-released 2020 P.L. 94-171 Redistricting Data.

• You can also visualize the 2020 Census data using DistrictR, a districting software from the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group.  You can also draw district maps, draw community of interest maps, and submit testimony directly to the Legislature through this website.

House Redistricting Committee Hearings: 

• Hearing Notices

• Register to Provide Testimony Virtually

• Note that registration for the hearings will close 48 hours prior to the start time of the hearing. 

Senate Redistricting Committee Hearings

• Hearing Notices

• Register to Provide Testimony Virtually

• Note that registration for the hearings will remain open until the hearing concludes.

LWV Texas Files Lawsuit Against State of Texas Over Anti-Voter Bill, SB1

“For democracy to work, it must include all voices. SB 1 is an extremist anti-voter bill that raises even more barriers to voting and specifically targets vulnerable communities, especially voters with disabilities, voters of color, and elderly voters,” said Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas. “SB 1 is a violation of our freedom to vote, and we will continue to fight every attempt to silence Texas voters.” 

It’s hard to find something good that came out of the 87th Legislative Session and it’s two Special Sessions.  With a third session imminent, and mainly for redistricting, I will do a quick wrap-up of what has happened so far.

We are a multi-issue organization, and we have positions on many issues.  We are voters who care enough to study about and lobby for our positions.  We are nonpartisan, and we know we will have leaders from a variety of political viewpoints, but we expect them to work together and be able to compromise.  But we did not get that from this session. Almost all votes were on straight party lines. Amendments by the minority party were voted down. In addition many bills were written by conservative think tanks, and funneled to our legislature and to many others in the country, seeking to pass new laws that were not popular with the majority of the voters.

Voting Rights, our signature issue, has taken a beating with SB 1.  It will make voting harder for many voters, and possibly keep our percentage of voters among the lowest in the country.  SB1 is waiting signature by the governor.

• Innovative ideas which improved turnout in Harris County were targeted and outlawed:  24-hour and drive-through early polling places.

• Mail-in Ballots:  Voter ID numbers are required on applications and ballot envelopes (driver’s license or last four digits of SS). Now a felony for elections officials to send unsolicited ballots, even to those over 65.

• People trying to help voters who need assistance were targeted with more complicated forms to fill out.

• Poll-watchers, who are appointed by parties and candidates, were given “free movement” in the polls.

• Election judges are now threatened with criminal penalties if they interfere with poll watchers in order to keep order.

However these positive procedures were passed in Voting Rights -

• Mail ballot tracking - a secure online system allowing voters to track status of the request for a ballot and the mail ballot’s return

• Mail ballot cure - a procedure election officials can use to notify voters of errors on mail ballots and an opportunity to cure the problem using the electronic ballot tracking system

• Protection for disability voting accommodations -  protecting procedures already entitled to under state and federal law

• Poll Watcher training - requiring watchers to complete a Secretary of State online training course and present proof of course completion to polling place officials

• Increased ballot access for pregnant voters - expanding mail ballot eligibility for pregnant voters if delivery is forecast 3 weeks before or after election day

• Increased interpretation access for voters - expanding the type of assistance allowed and expanding eligibility for providing assistance

• Auditable paper trails for election equipment - phasing out equipment by August 2026 that does not provide voters with verifiable records of their vote 

Learn more on Cinde Weatherby’s blog: “Celebrate Your Advocacy!”

Other issues we care about:

Health Care by Andrea Roa &  Child Health by Celia I. Kaye

•  Medicare expansion failed, keeping Teas with the lowest rate of uninsured in the country; abortions are now restricted to the first six-weeks of pregnancy. 
  
• One small victory: postpartum Medicaid coverage was extended from 2 months to 6 months.
  
• Another: medical marijuana is now available for cancer or PTSD. 
• SNAP access is easier for seniors and the disabled.

LWV Austin Area Webinar: "Democracy in the Spotlight: the 87th Texas Legislative Session"

Save the Date: 2:30-4 pm Sunday, September 26, 2021 (2:00 for LWV Austin members)

LWV Corpus Christi in PEW Charitable Trust News!

The Pew Charitable Trusts is a global nongovernmental organization that seeks to improve public policy, inform the public, and invigorate civic life. LWV Corpus Christi League leaders were quoted in the article "Public Access to Redistricting" dated August 31, 2021. 

"Members of the League of Women Voters in Corpus Christi created a map of Nueces County that identified communities at risk of elevated lead levels in their drinking water following a 2020 study.

"'We believe that redistricting can have a significant impact on this issue because the communities most impacted by the highest levels of lead must be kept intact to focus resources and remedies in neighborhoods that most need help, neighborhoods that often have people of color and/or people with low income,' League officials wrote in an email to Stateline."