It's February -- remind your valentine to register, show up, and vote! Look in this update for:
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Primary season is here, and I want to express my gratitude to everyone involved in creating the Voters Guide and registering voters before the upcoming deadline. Your efforts are truly making a positive impact.
Program Planning
LWVAA members gathered recently to discuss League Program planning for 2024-2026. League Program is the education and advocacy platform that we adopt to move our mission forward. Every two years, Leagues nationwide come together to review and propose issues for study or action at both the LWVUS and state League levels.
In our proposals to LWV Texas, we advocated for the reformatting and grouping of Education positions to highlight their importance in state advocacy. For National Program planning, we expressed our support for LWVUS' Making Democracy Work Program. If you're interested in learning more about state and national advocacy, check out the links below:
Locally, our League's Program will be proposed and voted on during the Annual Meeting in May. The board will share details about the proposed Program with the membership in April.
Mark Your Calendar!
I'm excited about our upcoming virtual "What's on the Ballot" event on February 15th and encourage you to attend. Also, tickets are now available for our annual fundraiser, "An IRRESISTIBLE Evening for Democracy," at the Alamo South Lamar. See below for more details on these events and other updates.
Jessica Foreman, LWVAA President
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Share the Voters Guide
The printed Voters Guide will be distributed across Travis County in the next few weeks. Watch for the opportunity to help. The Guide will also be available as a PDF on our website and a personalized Voters Guide will be on VOTE411.
First Vote! Needs Your Help Contacting High School Voters!
Providing civics education and registering student voters is a first step. Now we need your help to contact those students to encourage them to make a plan to vote in the Primary Election.
Join the League in Action App to help First Vote! contact High School Students a few days before early voting starts.
This is a super easy and effective volunteer opportunity. We create the messages and the app helps volunteers get the message to the student's phone number.
| Advocate to Close Austin Energy's Portion of Fayette Power Project!
The LWVAA Board voted to advocate for the closure of Austin Energy's portion of Fayette Power Project. LWVAA is a member of a working group with Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, and others with environmental concerns. LWVAA signed onto the Community Letter in Support of a Clean Energy Plan for Austin Energy.
ACTION NEEDED! Contact City Council Members in Support of Clean Energy!
Austin Energy is reporting to the Austin City Council about its Resource Generation Plan. One aspect of this plan is Austin Energy’s participation in the Fayette Power Project, a coal-burning power plant. LWVAA believes energy from fossil fuels should not be used and that Austin should use clean, sustainable energy sources. Please contact yourCity Council Members. Use the talking points listed below, or choose other points that resonate with you.
Austin Energy Resource Planning Talking Points:
- Austin Energy must transition away from polluting fossil fuels to be part of a global solution addressing climate change and improve our local air quality.
- Austin Energy building more gas-burning electric generation would go directly against the goals adopted by City Council in the Austin Climate Equity Plan. It would increase greenhouse gas emissions and worsen local air pollution – especially in East Austin near communities of color.
- There are clean and sustainable options to meet Austin’s energy needs. A combination of renewable energy – including local rooftop solar – energy efficiency, and batteries can provide the energy we need without worsening climate change or creating local air pollution.
And the Advocacy Survey Results Are...
We want to thank everyone who responded to the recent survey to help our Advocacy Committee identify its primary areas of focus in 2024. The top three vote-getters were
- Education: Equal access to a quality public education and educational services for all children from pre-K through 12th grade
- Health & Human Services: Accessibility to quality healthcare services; accessibility to well-maintained parks, trails, and recreational facilities; adequate nutrition and food security
- Environment and Natural Resources: Managing water, energy, and other environmental resources; ensuring and protecting water quality and availability; reducing energy-related emissions; flood control
| New Name, Still Committed to League Advocacy
The Community and Policy Committee met after the Program Positions meeting on January 13 to rethink who we are and what our collaborative role is in LWVAA. We recommend that our name change to Advocacy and Education Committee to better reflect our focus. We are also defining the roles of the Advocacy, Outreach, and Education Directors to reflect our new focus. In keeping with a review of LWVTX and LWVUS program positions, we took on the task of reviewing the LWVAA program positions to update them when necessary and to be sure we are in keeping with the state and national Leagues' positions.
If you are interested in the work we are doing and want to join our committee, let us know. We would love to have you!
Contact: Joanne Richards, VP Advocacy and Education
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Site Lines: Member Resources Page
LWVAA members are invited to check out the new Member Resources page on our website! Once you’ve logged in to the site, you’ll find the page in the “Members Only” dropdown menu. When you visit the page, you’ll see a list of our newest members, a welcome video, a FAQ section that addresses common questions we get from new members, and a “how-to” on accessing and updating your Member Profile. Is there anything you’d like to see added to the page? Just let us know!
Membership Committee Kickoff Meeting
The new LWVAA Membership Committee held its first meeting on January 26. Members discussed ways to recruit and welcome new members and came up with ideas for engaging with members in person, online, and through personal communication.
Our Member Contact Team has already gotten to work! Volunteers from the Member Contact Team will help LWVAA manage the increase in call volume that we can expect to see in a major election year. Other members of the team are helping the Development Team prepare for Amplify Austin by addressing cards to past donors.
If you’re interested in helping the committee, just update your interests through your Member Profile – you’ll find us in the Membership category.
Contact: Joyce Jackson, Membership Director
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Picture This Art & Writing Contest
It’s time for the 2024 Picture This contest! This year’s theme is “Democracy & Community.” Austin area students in elementary, middle, and high school are invited to participate by submitting original written work or visual artwork illustrating this theme. A $125 Amazon gift card will be awarded to the winner of each category within each age division, and winning submissions will be recognized at our annual Friends & Family Spring Festival. Submissions are due March 1.
More details can be found at the Picture This Contest page on our website. Please let any parents, educators, and/or young people in your life know about the contest!
Contact: picturethis@lwvaustin.org
| Communications and Technology
| Help Us Maximize the LWV Algorithm!
We need your help to push out our Get Out the Vote messaging. This month, commit to watch, like, comment, and share LWV short videos and graphics. Austin City Council Members are working with the League to encourage voting in the Primary Election. So far we have videos from Vanessa Fuentes, Ryan Alter, and Zo Qadri. We are also working with student volunteers from UT's TXVotes on videos and graphics encouraging students to vote in the Primary Elections. Watch for these videos on LWVAustin social media channels!
|  | Volunteer With LWVAA!
Final February Push to Register Voters
It is time for the big final February push to register voters before the February 5 deadline. Help your local democracy!
Contact: Claudia Torres-Yanez, Director of Voter Registration and Turnout
Contact: Susana Carranza, First Vote! Chair
Communications
Help with communications for the 2024 elections! Strategize on the election comms plan, create TikTok videos and canva graphics to educate and motivate voters. We’d love to have you on the communications team!
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What's on the Ballot: Primary Election 2024
Join us for this virtual event co-hosted by the Austin Area and Williamson County Leagues to find out about the offices that will be on your 2024 primary ballot.
Where: Virtual via Zoom
When: Thursday, February 15th from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
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Amplify Austin Begins March 6!
Amplify Austin is fast approaching! The League of Women Voters Austin Area will be participating in I Live Here I Give Here's Amplify Austin Day, Central Texas’ community-wide day of giving.
LWVAA does so many amazing things for the community: we create and translate the Voters Guide into Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese; we register people to vote throughout the community, including in our high schools and naturalization ceremonies; we provide civic education, candidate forums, and more.
But we can’t do it without your help. In order to keep providing these critical programs in a consequential election year, all of which are run by a committed group of volunteers, we need your financial support.
Amplify Austin begins on Wednesday, March 6, at 6 p.m. and runs through Thursday, March 7, at 6 p.m. Can't wait to support the League? Schedule your donation early!
|  | LWVAA Fundraiser 2024: Ticket Sales Are Open!!
Join us for An IRRESISTIBLE Evening for Democracy
On March 27, 2024, LWVAA, along with Leagues around the country, will host An IRRESISTIBLE Evening for Democracy. Join us at the Alamo South Lamar for a night of film, food, and fun, featuring a screening of Irresistible, a 2020 political comedy by Jon Stewart that "takes on the big-money corruptions of American politics." (Variety). Enjoy the full “Alamo Experience” as we showcase the work of the League of Women Voters! Proceeds from this event -- sponsorships, ticket sales, and individual donations -- will fuel the work we do to ensure that voters in Austin and Travis County have the information they need to participate fully in our democracy.
Buy a ticket, make a donation, or become a sponsor and know that your attendance and generosity will register and inform more voters right here in the Austin area.
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2024 Friends & Family Spring Festival
Help LWVAA plan the Friends & Family Spring Festival happening on Saturday, April 27! If you have ideas for entertainment or fun activities to include at this event or would like to be involved in any way, please reach out.
Contact: Kate Abel, VP Organization
| LWVTX
Join with other Texans dedicated to our mission of empowering voters at the LWVTX Biennial Convention is on Apr. 19 - 21! This year's theme is "Embracing Our Diversity. Defending Democracy." | Welcome to Our Newest Members!
| | Leslie Bagby*
Laura Braden
Gigi Edwards Bryant*
Jim Bunch
Dorothy Ann Compton
Joshua Elzy
Polly Emerson*
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| Ruth Fagan-Wilen
Karen Golshan
Bonnie Kelly
Kimberly Kohlhaas
Veda Kutagula
Erin Loftus
Stacy Quast
Nicolas Renouil
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Jon Paul Rodriguez*
Liz Rodriguez*
Emily Segel
Ava Snoozy
Elissa Steglich*
Virginia Tippit
Jamison Travis
Annelia Williams |
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* Indicates a Sustaining Member
| Thank You to Our Sustaining and Renewing Members!
As a member of the Austin Area League, you are also a member of the National and Texas Leagues.
| | 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. | |