PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
From the Desk of Diane Tasian
Dear League members and friends,
Happy Holidays! As this year draws to an end, we are already in gear for the new year. Two big items are preparing for the 2023 Texas Legislature which begins in January and the Susan B Anthony Luncheon on February 9. You will shortly see a special VOTER newsletter on the luncheon!
Elections:
The November 8, 2022, General Election was carefully and safely conducted. Election results did not take as long as was feared because of all the write-in candidates. The team that was assembled to hand count the write-in ballots was able to declare a winner for the Judicial 301 by 9 p.m.
There are two special elections coming soon:
City of Glenn Heights – Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Council Member Place 1.
City of Farmers Branch – Saturday, January 21, 2023. Council Member Place 3.
Our next big election will be held Saturday May 6, 2023. Some items on the ballot will be:
Dallas: Mayor and City Council members for all 14 Districts.
Dallas ISD: Trustees for District 2, District 6, and District 8.
Farmers Branch: City Council Place 2 and Mayor at Large.
Garland ISD, Trustees for Place 4 and Place 5.
The City of Mesquite has moved its city elections to November. The City election, for the purpose of electing a Mayor and Councilmembers for Places 1 – 6, is held in odd-numbered years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The next election will be held on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
YEO (Your Elected Officials) brochure will be updated in early January. We will send out a notice when it is updated.
Handbook for 2022-2023
LWVD just published our Handbook for 2022-2023, a tradition we had long before email and our website! You will find our mission, organization structure, our public positions, by-laws, investment policy, and much more. Thank you, Cecilia McKay, for leading this update. Please login to the website to read it here.
Meetings:
On December 1, a joint zoom meeting of the Tarrant and Dallas Leagues will be held with a speaker on, ”The Impact of Charter Schools and Vouchers on Texas’ Independent School Districts”. On December 6th a zoom meeting with a speaker will be held on your right to access public meetings as part of the Observer Corps volunteer work. See Details and Register Here.
Unit meetings are back, and I hope you can join one. Please see related articles in this issue of the VOTER. I am pleased to announce that a new Unit is forming in Lakewood. Its co-leaders will be Peter Schaar and Carol Donovan. Thank you, Eileen Rosenblum, for so ably restoring our Unit meetings!
We also have a host of advocacy interest group meetings – please visit the Event Calendar on the website for a complete listing and to sign up.
If you are interested in immigration, I recommend you join the LWVUS Immigration Discussion Google Group. To join please email contact Jane Andrews at janea@lwvsandiego.org.
Volunteers:
The Volunteer page is undergoing updates to accommodate more options for you. Many of you have used the Volunteer page to sign up for voter services opportunities. Thank you all for using the platform and for being out in the community! Thank you so much Shannon FitzGerald for managing this for us! Sandy Thornton and I are working to engage volunteers in office support, writing for the VOTER and the various webpages, and history research.
Ashley Washington is focused on using it as a volunteer platform for the Observer Corps and issues research. You will be hearing a lot more about the importance of League tradition of the Observer Corps in the months to come! We will be sending emails to the various interest groups in the member profiles as the opportunities are posted. Here is the link for the Volunteer page: https://www.lwvdallas.org/waystoengage. We look forward to getting to know you better as we work to empower voters, defend democracy, and protect the freedom to vote.
Vote Center Advisory Committee:
The Vote Center Advisory Committee is being reconstituted by Dallas County Citizen Elections Advisory Committee. The November Unit meetings included content about Vote Centers and Dr. Matthew Wilson, SMU, came to the Far North Dallas Unit to describe recent research his students conducted about Vote Centers. If you are interested in serving on our team, please let me know.
88th Texas Legislature begins January 10, 2023:
The Legislature convenes at Noon on January 10 and will end on May 29. Bills are already being pre-filed. I look forward to LWVTX Action Alerts as the legislature progresses.
Happy Holidays!
In League,
Diane Tasian |