Serving the people of Comal and Guadalupe Counties

From the President 

Roxanna Deane

It’s so inspiring to see voter turnout records being shattered!  In Comal County 76.4% of registered voters participated in the election.  The previous record was 68.34% in 2016.  Voter turnout in Guadalupe County was 69.47% which eclipsed the 2016 rate of 62.30%.  Our deep appreciation goes to the election officials and volunteers who have worked so diligently to make sure every vote is counted.

Our League did our part to give voters the information they needed.  The LWV Comal Area website had 10,247 users between Oct. 13 and Nov. 3; 7662 people in Comal and Guadalupe counties used Vote411; and the candidate forums on You Tube were viewed 2373 times and social media posts received over 9,000 views. 5,000 voter information packets were distributed to the lowest turnout precincts in our two counties and local food banks, 744 postcards with registration information were mailed to students turning 18, Youth Empowerment worked with CISD to provide registration in 68 senior government classes and 12,000 Voters Guides were distributed to area libraries, senior centers, and food banks, and as inserts in local newspapers.

Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to help us continue this work.

As you will read in the articles below, work begins anew in January.  It is time for everyone to be recertified as a VDR.  The next General Election date in Texas is May 1, 2021. The Texas Legislature is headed back in session and there is no more pressing issue than redistricting.  There are opportunities for members to be involved.

When I read the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, I regularly recognize names of LWV-CA members that have written articles or Letters to the Editor.  My thanks go to each one who has added to the civil discourse on issues important to this community.

Happy Thanksgiving.  I am grateful for each of our 90 members, numerous partners, candidates, and voters.  Despite a pandemic - Democracy won on Nov. 3..

Electoral College and Unintended Consequences

by Jerrie Champlin, Publicity Director

Since Nov. 3, 2020,  many of us have been focused on the Electoral College and may have developed a better understanding of why there have been several attempts to replace it .  On Nov. 18, the League of Women Voters of the Comal Area (LWVCA) will host a public meeting to examine what the Electoral College is, why it was established, the impact it has on our democracy and its unintended consequences. The meeting will be online from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom (meeting ID: 899 8656 3219  password: 270440), live-streamed on Facebook and recorded for viewing later on the LWV Comal YouTube channel. 

“The Electoral College can and has affected both parties. It’s a nonpartisan issue.  2016 was not the first or second time but the fifth time that the elected President did not win a majority of citizens’ votes.  There’s a lot of misconceptions about who and what interests the system protects, and how it impacts voter turnout  and political polarization, “ comments Jerrie Champlin, the organizer of the League event.  The meeting will feature a presentation from founding members Joyce Williams and Rosemary Heilemann of the League of Women Voters of Illinois Electoral College Committee which has spearheaded the League’s efforts to educate the public about the Electoral College.  Part of the League’s core mission is to promote the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and Heilemann believes that the League “should shed light on a voting system that is antiquated and confusing. It comes down to the concept of one person, one vote.”

Read the LWVUS position on the electoral college here.

Giving Tuesday 

by Jerrie Champlin, Publicity Director

Make a difference!  December 1, is Giving Tuesday, an online day that unleashes generosity

and opens the holiday season of giving to mobilize people to give back to their communities.

LWV-CA provided thousands of voters with nonpartisan voting and election information this year with the support from our donors.  Thank you! 

Help us continue to empower voters and defend democracy this Giving Tuesday by donating at https://my.lwv.org/texas/comal-area/donate

Voter Services 2021

by Ada Conlan, Voter Services VP

Preparations are underway for our 2021 voter registration drives.  As part of that preparation all of our Volunteer Deputy Registrars will need to be trained again by a county election office.  Your current appointment ends December 31, 2020.  The training to be a Texas Volunteer Deputy Registrar is the same in each county and extends for two years.  January 2021 is the first month of training for the 2021-2021 election cycle.

Comal County conducts its training by reservation on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, 10 am at the Comal County Elections Office, 396 N. Seguin Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130.  To register you can submit your reservation onlineor call (830) 221-1352 to register. 

Guadalupe County conducts its training by reservation as well on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, 3 pm at the Guadalupe County Elections Office, 215 S. Milam, Seguin, TX 78155.  Please call (830) 303-6363 to register.  I spoke to one of the clerks and they indicated masks are required and the instructor will be masked.  Please call to verify the mask information if that is important to you. 

Bexar County conducts its training for 2021 at the Bexar County Election Office, 1103 S. Frio St, Ste 200, San Antonio, TX 78207-6328.  Please call (210) 335-6625 for a reservation and day/time for the training.  Training lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Hays County appoints Volunteer Deputy Registrars after you review the Texas Secretary of State’s (SOS) approved training materials..  When you feel adequately trained and prepared go to their office at 712 South Stagecoach Trail, Suite 1012, San Marcos, TX 78666-6294 Monday-Friday, 8 am to 5 pm.  Review the study guide, pass the open-book exam, and receive your certificate of appointment and supply packet.

 2021 Redistricting Update

Time to Write Our Texas State Legislators

by Daphne Spraitzer, Program VP

Now that the election is over, it is time to turn our attention to the Texas Legislature and their important task of redistricting.

Background

After receipt of 2020 Census apportionment data between March 1st and April 1st, 2021, the Texas State Legislature will begin its formal process of redistricting.  The Texas Constitution requires the legislature to complete this task by the end of the legislative session, May 31, 2021, giving the legislature a maximum of 3 months to re-draw the maps.

The Texas State House and Senate Redistricting Committees are responsible to re-draw all Texas voting district maps, including US House districts.   The Redistricting Committees are also responsible for the redistricting process, including hearings as well as how the maps are drawn.  Both Committees held or scheduled public input hearings in 2019.  However, all in-person hearings were suspended due to COVID 19 in March 2020.  Neither Committee has announced or scheduled any additional in-person hearings.

On October 19, 2020, the Texas Senate Select Redistricting Committee established a public input portal on its website. This tool allows the public to submit written comments and attachments for the committee to review and consider regarding the upcoming redistricting process.  Submissions received will be transmitted to members of the committee and any other senator who requests to review them.   The public may submit testimony directly into the online blocks or as an attachment or both. 

President Roxanna Deane has submitted this letter for LWV-CA  through the Senate online portal.  Please read the letter; it includes the LWV-CA and LWV-TX positions on redistricting. 

How You Can Help

We encourage all LWV-CA individual members to submit input to the Senate committee through the Senate’s online portal, including your personal reasons for supporting a fair and open redistricting process this year.  The most powerful letters or input highlight personal vignettes showing how redistricting (especially gerrymandering) has affected you, your family, or your community.

Your input does not have to be lengthy; it can be short, sweet and to the point.  If you feel passionately that voters should choose their legislators and not the other way around, we strongly encourage you to tell the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting! 

If you decide to submit input, for the block, “Organization you are affiliated with: (required)” we request LWV-CA members use “self” and do not indicate that you are representing the League of Women Voters. (It is LWV policy that only the President speaks for the League.)

In addition to the LWV-CA official positions used in the LWV-CA letter, which we encourage you to draw from, LWV-TX has provided this Redistricting Testimony Guide.   Additionally, the Fair Maps Texas website  includes testimony guides as well as copies of letters from the organization to the House Redistricting Committee to give you ideas and examples. 

If you want to help us advocate for a fair, open and transparent redistricting process in 2021 to ensure fair maps in Texas for the next 10 years, we encourage you to join our LWV-CA Redistricting Committee!  If you are interested, please contact Daphne Spraitzar, ddspraitzar@gmail.com, or Jensie Madden, j-dmadden@att.net

Letter to the Editor of the Herald-Zeitung

by Bonnie Leitch, League Member

If you, like many other prospective voters, have looked at the League of Women Voters’ “Voters Guide for the 2020 Presidential Election,” you might have noticed something rather astounding. A number of the candidates chose not to submit responses to the questions posed. One reason could be an act meant to disrespect the oldest non-partisan political organization in the United States. An unintended consequence, however, could be to deny any undecided voters the chance to form an objective, candidate-written contrast in views so that they might cast a more educated vote.

By the way, the League also has an on-line voters guide at vote411.org. Candidates who wish to can still respond to questions there and have their answers published online to help undecided voters.

For those of you who don’t know, the League was formed exactly 100 years ago, in order to prepare American women for the upcoming passage of the 19th Amendment that gave them the right to vote. The League also sponsored the first televised presidential debates from 1960 until 1988, when its insistence on non-partisanship forced the League’s withdrawal, and the politicians took over.

That same conflict hounds us today, unfortunately. As a member of the League, I hope the “Voters Guide” will be of use to all who read it and choose to take part in the most fundamental act in a democracy and vote.