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!
| A technical error between the Texas Department of Public Safety's (DPS) online driver license system and the state's voter registration system kept some voter registration applications from reaching county election offices. DPS has acknowledged the error and the state is now sending those records to the counties. With the registration deadline on Monday, October 5, we want to make sure no one falls through the cracks.
Read the full article from LWV Texas to find out how you can help. | Empowering Voters.
Defending Democracy. | 🗳️ Three things to do for democracy this week
- Help your friends, family and community confirm their registration at vote411.org.
- Volunteer to help register voters, help at a candidate forum, help with our postcard campaign, educate the community, and support League events. Check out our calendar or email us about where you'd like to help.
- Isn't it fun to see nonpartisan League bumper stickers on the car driving past you? Shop with LWVAA for your nonpartisan election gear. What is your favorite bumper sticker?
🗳️ Three things your church, organization or business can do to support democracy this week
- Share voter education material from LWVAA. We have flyers, voter info bookmarks, VOTE411 how-tos, voting plan checklists -- we've got you covered! Check our calendar for drop-in hours or email Joyce Jackson to arrange a pick-up time.
- Request a LWVAA speaker for your organization's next meeting. We can provide a short version of "What is on the Ballot" in as little as 15 minutes.
- Organize a "get out the vote" postcard party. LWVAA supplies pre-printed postcards, address lists, and postage; you supply the volunteers! Contact Joyce Jackson to learn more.
|  | 🎤 September 29: Austin City Council District 9 Candidate Forum
The Future of Austin's Urban Core
6:30 - 8:00 p.m., Austin City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street - RSVP
Austin’s urban core is a place to live, work, study, and gather. What would the candidates do to help it serve those many needs? Join LWVAA for a nonpartisan District 9 City Council candidate forum. Planned topics include housing affordability, downtown economic vitality, safer and easier travel, public safety, homelessness, and welcoming public spaces. Candidates will also be asked about balancing growth with neighborhood identity and giving residents a meaningful voice in city decisions. Attend to hear their priorities firsthand before casting your vote.
🎤 October 1: Austin City Council District 3 Candidate Forum
Affordability and Opportunity in a Changing District
6:30 - 8:00 p.m., Learning and Research Center, 5202 E. Ben White Boulevard, Suite 500 - RSVP
What should growth deliver for the people who already call District 3 home? Join LWVAA for a nonpartisan forum with the district’s City Council candidates. Planned questions will explore housing affordability and displacement, transit access and pedestrian safety, redevelopment, and opportunities for local small businesses. The discussion will also touch on city budget priorities and everyday neighborhood concerns, including parks, infrastructure, public safety, and homelessness. Make time to hear how the candidates would approach these choices—and how they would involve you in making them.
If you’re unable to attend in person, all forums will air live on ATXN and KAZI 88.7 FM, with recordings posted afterward on ATXN’s YouTube channel.
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But wait -- there's more!
Sept. 28:
National Constitution Center: Previewing the Supreme Court's 2026 - 2027 Term -
Oct. 1:
🍦 Amy's Ice Creams / Phil's Ice House profit share day benefiting LWVAA. Support the League of Women Voters by enjoying some tasty burgers and/or delicious ice cream! From 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, Amy's Ice Creams and Phil's Ice House on South Lamar will be donating 20% of total proceeds from to LWVAA. Please come out and show your support! We hope to see you there.
Oct. 2:
AFS Cinema: First They Came for My College - Tickets (use discount code LWV4)
Oct. 3:
History Surrounds: Wooldridge Square Park - RSVP
AFS Cinema: First They Came for My College - Tickets (use discount code LWV4)
City of Pflugerville: Howl-O-Ween! - Info
Oct. 5:
Last day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 election - Info
ACC Riverbat Bash at ACC Northridge - Info
The Librarians: Official Screening - Tickets
| Volunteers, students, and staff had a great time at the ACC Highland Paws to the Polls event. Imagine the impact on the young voters who had an opportunity to read a Paws-edition Voters Guide and then cast their ballot on a real voting machines.
| We have a lot of voters to register before October 5!
🗳️ Registering voters is a great way to volunteer with LWVAA. Find opportunities to register voters before October 5, the last day to register to vote in the November 3 midterm election.
Are you a Volunteer Deputy Registrar (VDR)? Then LWVAA needs you - and you don't have to be a League member to help! Visit our calendar to sign up for a volunteer shift. We set up the events and provide support and materials. You just have to sign up and show up!
Oct. 2
Oct. 3
Oct. 4
Oct. 5
🎉 Last Day to register to vote for the November 3 midterm election 🎉
VR Deadline Day at St. Edward's University - Sign Up
Email our Voters Service team to learn more about sharing your time and talents with LWVAA.
Train to safeguard the November elections!
🗳️ Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays in September and October. The League of Women Voters, a proud member of the Election Protection coalition, encourages members to sign up for poll monitor training led by Common Cause. The Election Protection program and its volunteers make sure eligible voters know how to cast their ballots and ensure they are counted. All poll monitor volunteers must attend one training session. Register for a session today!
🗳️ Support First Vote! before the October 5 deadline! 📚
🚌 We need LWVAA volunteers to help to reach first-time high school voters before the October 5 registration deadline!
Sept. 30:
Oct. 1:
First Vote! Data Entry and Kit Restocking - Sign Up
To learn more about helping our First Vote! team, email First Vote! Chair Susana Carranza. | Share voter information at Amy's Ice Creams
Are you looking for a chance to volunteer south of the river? Look no further!
From 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, Amy's Ice Creams and Phil's Ice House on South Lamar will be donating 20% of total proceeds to LWVAA. We need a volunteer to staff a table to share information about the League and about the November 3 election. You don't have to be a VDR to help, and LWVAA will supply all material.
If you're ready to volunteer (and you need an excellent excuse to eat a small cone with a mix-in), email Joyce Jackson, Membership Chair. |  | Help LWVAA get out the vote for the midterms!
Address postcards to help turn out the vote for the November 3 general election. LWVAA will provide pre-printed cards, pens, address lists, and postage. And if your handwriting isn't the best, don't despair: you can help bundle postcards or apply postage. Just drop by to help -- and bring a friend!
Want to work at home or host a postcard party for your friends or civic group? Swing by and pick up supplies!
Sept. 29:
Help Get Out the Vote! Postcard Drop-In, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Info
Sept. 30:
Help Get Out the Vote! Postcard Drop-In, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. - Info
Oct. 1:
Help Get Out the Vote! Postcard Drop-In at Wheatsville South Lamar, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Info
Oct. 2:
Help Get Out the Vote! Postcard Drop-In, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. - Info
Want to help but can't make it by during drop-in hours? Email Joyce Jackson to schedule a pick-up time. |
LWVAA maintains an online event calendar for meetings, trainings, voter outreach, and registration opportunities.
| Volunteers needed for City of Austin candidate forums
The League is moderating five candidate forums in September and October, and we need our members to help everything run smoothly. Log in to our website, then click one of the links below to sign up for a shift:
New to volunteering or to candidate forums? Don't worry -- Pam Bixby, our Candidate Forum Chair, will guide you every step of the way! Email Pam if you have any questions about candidate forums. | Midterm Election
🗳️ Read Texas DPS failed to send voter registration applications to county election officials - Natalia Contreras, Votebeat & The Texas Tribune
🗳️ Read Delayed Texas voter applications highlight how difficult it is to register in the state, experts say - Natalia Contreras, Votebeat & The Texas Tribune
🗳️ Listen The Supreme Court revives a controversial data system for citizenship checks - Jude Joffe-Block, KUT News
Public Schools
🏫 Read Austin ISD faces new state intervention risk with nine schools this school year - Acacia Cornado, The Austin Current
🚌 Read Austin ISD’s budget strains as enrollment dips, transportation spending increases - Acacia Cornado, The Austin Current | On September 20, an ICE agent shot and wounded 28-year-old Venezuelan delivery driver Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez in Austin. The shooting sparked protests in the city, with Austinites gathering to demand answers and accountability.
Jazmin Cuellar, Director of Advocacy for LWVAA, was there. While trying to help another protester, she was tear-gassed and struck by pepper balls. In the video, Jazmin shares what happened and why she believes speaking out matters.
The League of Women Voters believes all people deserve fair treatment under the law and opposes violence from federal immigration officials, including ICE and CBP, when it threatens democracy, the rule of law, and our Constitution. Learn more about LWV's stance on immigration here..
Protesting is one way to make your voice heard. Voting is another. What happens in our communities is influenced by the people we elect. Make sure to check your voter registration at VoteTravis.gov or register to vote so you can vote for candidates who stand on the issues that matter to you this election. | ⚖️ Read ICE officer shoots, injures man in Austin, officials say - Alex Nguyen, Uriel J. Garcia & Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune
"Police nor the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the man. But Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an Austin immigration lawyer, said she was hired to represent the man and that he was released from the hospital and into federal custody Sunday evening.
"She identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, of Venezuela, and said he had a valid work permit and entered the U.S. legally. The attorney said he was doing a DoorDash delivery when the shooting happened, and the man subsequently called his wife from inside the vehicle.
💧 Read Gov. Greg Abbott broadens moratorium on data center approvals to include environmental permits - Paul Cobbler, The Texas Tribune
"Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Monday to stop issuing new permits for data centers, strengthening his moratorium on the industry’s development in Texas....
"Abbott sent the letter to TCEQ Executive Director Kelly Keel, directing the agency to halt all permits to data centers until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s nonprofit electric grid operator, and the Texas Water Development Board, which handles state water resource planning, complete an audit of data centers seeking to be built in the state. Those efforts seek information about planned data centers’ electricity use, water use, impact on local communities, ownership information and use of tax breaks."
🥵 Read Federal judge orders Texas to install AC in all of its prisons by the end of 2029 - Andrew Webber, KUT News
"A federal judge says Texas must install air conditioning at all of its state prisons by the end of 2029.
"The ruling from Austin-based Federal District Judge Robert Pitman caps a yearslong lawsuit over dangerous heat in the state's prisons. A coalition of prisoner advocacy groups sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in 2024, alleging the state's jailer ignored -- or even hid -- some heat-related deaths in prisons. The case went to trial earlier this year ahead of the order from Pitman on Tuesday. TDCJ oversees 86 state prisons and roughly two-thirds of the state's inmates live without air conditioning."
🚆 Read Austin light-rail agency scraps $47 million office plan, expands next door instead - Nathan Biernier, KUT News
"The agency building Austin's light-rail system has scrapped a controversial $47 million plan to relocate its headquarters to a lakefront high-rise at 100 Congress Ave. Instead, the Austin Transit Partnership will expand its existing downtown office to the address next door.
"The exact cost savings are difficult to pin down because the leases are different lengths. But a rough calculation suggests the new arrangement would cost about $500,000 less per year."
Contact Jazmine Cuellar, Advocacy Director, to get involved. | Upcoming League & community events
Oct.10
LWVAA: What's on My Ballot: Propositions A, B, and I - Register
Oct. 13
ACC Riverbat Bash South Austin - Info
Oct.14
ACC Riverbat Bash Riverside - Info
Oct. 15
City Council District 1 Candidate Forum - RSVP
Oct. 19
First day of early voting
| News
Read With Midterms Weeks Away, League of Women Voters Launches New Nationwide Push to Protect the Vote Throughout October
"With the 2026 midterm elections fast approaching, the League of Women Voters is launching a nationwide effort to equip voters with trusted information, combat misinformation and ensure Americans can cast their ballots safely and confidently."
Read League of Women Voters Partners with Leading Brands to Register Voters and Prepare for 2026 Midterms
Support the national brands partnering with the League of Women Voters this election season: Ben and Jerry's, Lush Cosmetics, Lingua Franca, Eileen Fisher, Lola, and Lyft. | If you've read this far, it must be worth it.
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|  | Give a big shout out to LWVAA Philip Arno, the Paws to the Polls photographer, who wore his dog ears at the ACC Highland event.
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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. | |