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Denton VOTER September 2016

President's Podium
Sue Smith
LWV-Denton President

After a long summer break, I hope you are ready for a busy fall. We will have our first meeting Thursday, September 15, 2016 with a Meet and Greet. More details follow in this edition of The VOTER.

Several members attended sessions at the Denton County Elections Building to become deputized volunteer voter registrars. If you missed these opportunities, please go any weekday to become deputized. We are gearing up to register voters for the November election. Julie Leuzinger is organizing these events at UNT, Denton Community Market and elsewhere.

In lieu of paying rental fees to have most of our general meetings at the Denton Senior Center we help with several of their evernts. On August 25, 2016 Bethany Germany, Stephanie Fields­Hawkin, Courtney Cross, Laurel and Aaron Crawford, Pat Cheek and I help serve dinner to aproximately 120 Denton Senior Center volunteers. Special thanks to Laurel for organizing how we got the food from the kitchen to the tables.

 


Dues are Due - Renew Your Membership

It is time to renew your membership in the League of Women Voters of Denton. We thank you for your support last year and ask for your commitment for the 2016-2017 League year ahead. Dues for  individual Members are $50; Household Members pay $50 for the first member and $25 for each other member residing at the same mailing address; and full-time students may join for $25.

For your membership renewal you can mail your check to LWV-Denton, P.O. Box 424945 TWU Station, Denton, Texas 76204.You do not need to fill out the membership form unless there are any changes. You may also renew your dues by using PayPal on our website! 

Dues are due September 1, 2016 for the membership year ending August 31, 2017.
 

The League gratefully accepts contributions in addition to membership dues. Contributions allow the League to engage in important issues advocacy, voter education and voter registration.

Thank you to recent Finance Drive contributor Linda Brock. Linda contributed at the Patron level.
 



Save the Date: September 27, 2016
National Voter Registration Day

nationalvoterregistrationday.org

Celebrate #VoterRegistrationDay
Already registered? Great! Pledge to celebrate #VoterRegistrationDay and make sure no one misses out on this year’s election cause they aren’t registered 
 


Upcoming Dates:
 
Last Day to Register to Vote - Tuesday, October 11, 2016
First Day of Early Voting - Monday, October 24, 2016
Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail - Friday, October 28, 2016
(Received, not Postmarked)
Last Day of Early Voting - Friday, November 4, 2016

Thursday, Sep 8 - 7 PM - Board Meeting - Home of Karen Jackson
Thursday, Sep 15 - 6 PM - General Meeting - Meet and Greet with local elected officials, Mulberry Street Cantina
Thursday, Oct 6 - 7 PM - General Meeting - Denton Senior Center - Lannie Noble, Denton County Elections Administrator, Improving Voting
Thursday, Nov 17 - 7 PM - General Meeting, Denton Senior Center - Affordable Housing
 
Tuesday, November 8, 2016, Election Day
 


Membership

Become a member or renew at anytime. Please send your check to PO Box 424945, Denton, Texas 76204 or online. The amount for individuals is $50. Where two or more members reside at the same address, dues for the first member is $50 plus $25 for each additional member.
 
September 15, 2016 General Meeting
 
Meet and Greet with New and Re-Elected Local Officials

Mulberry Street Cantina
110 W Mulberry Street Denton, TX
6:00 - 7:30 P.M.

The Thursday, September 15 meet and greet is co-hosted by the League of Women Voters of Denton and Women Do Local Politics. This is an opportunity to meet, greet and discuss topics of interest with local elected officials. Invited officials include Denton County Commissioners Court, Denton City Council and Denton ISD Board of Trustees. Thank you Mulberry Cantina for providing a meeting place with microphones, quiet music and perhaps a food truck.
 

Planning Ahead:

October 6, 2016 General Meeting


The League of Women Voters of Denton invites members and the public to its monthly meeting on Thursday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Denton Senior Center, 509 N Bell Street (Quakertown Park).
 
Be more informed. Come to the LWV Meeting and meet Mr. Lannie Noble, Denton County Elections Administrator, and discuss topics of interest:
 
Improving voter participation through Voting Procedures -

· Voter ID & the Additional Options for those who cannot obtain a form of approved photo ID
· Voter ID & Provisional Ballots
· Discuss Upcoming trends
· Voting Centers - Centralized Voting
· Online Voter Registration
· Curbside Voting
 
Voter Statistics -

· What is the voter turn-out rate for Denton County? How does it compare to other counties?
· Take a look at the Elections Administration’s Website - How much information is available?
· Is Exit Polling beneficial?
 
 
See the ONLINE CALENDAR for the latest information about meetings and events of interest to members and friends.
 

Ongoing Self Education

Be a Texas Voter Campaign with community resources to promote voting and elections in Texas
http://www.lwvtexas.org/GOTV.html

for
- Educators
- Texas Nonprofits
- Texans
- Faith organizations
- Resources include LWVUS/LWV-TX links, graphics, videos, posters etc.

From a Louisianan to her Texas friends—thank you for being such caring neighbors!
-Laurel Sammonds Crawford, LWV-Denton Organization VP

The floods of August 2016 have devastated twenty south Louisiana parishes, impacting tens of thousands of people. Areas far from waterways—never expected to flood—were inundated with filthy water and mud after the area received 24 inches of rain in a three-day period. This nameless storm has killed 13 people to date and destroyed over 40,000 homes.

Louisianans are resilient and fought this disaster with every means at their disposal. First responders and the Louisiana National Guard worked around the clock, helping others even as their own lives were falling apart. The famed "Cajun Navy" of volunteer boatmen cruised the cities and rural areas, looking for flood victims to pluck off of porches and out of stalled
cars. Others organized makeshift shelters, collected donations, and cared for injured people and animals. Incredibly, over 30,000 people were rescued and over 10,000 were sheltered.

I moved to Texas 3 years ago, and it’s no surprise to me that many of my Texan friends have asked “What can we do to help?” At this point, many shelters have been literally overwhelmed with the generosity of others and have stopped accepting donations of clothing and standard disaster supplies. Shelters and individuals are now in need of very specific medical, personal, and cleaning supplies—the priorities change hourly. To answer those needs, it’s best to raise and donate funding to well-known charities who are actually on the ground in Louisiana now. The three charities I'm recommending are the Baton Rouge Food Bank, which lost 500,000 lbs of food due to flooding in its warehouse, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation Flood Relief Fund, and the Louisiana State Animal Response Team. If you’re able, please consider donating to one of these reliable and important sources of help to the Louisiana people.
Prior Months Reports
 
Volunteer Deputy Registrars Training
 
During August LWV Denton had three successful events to promote the Volunteer Deputy Registrar Program that were conducted by the Denton County Elections Administration. The League thanks the Denton County Elections Administration staff with special thanks to Lannie Noble, Lillie Henry, and Melissa Dejesus for deputizing the 60 new VDRs.
 
Friday, August 19 - 4 LWV members deputized with a joint happy hour with UNT Librarians at Eastside
Saturday, August 20 - 41 LWV friends deputized
Friday, August 26 - 15 LWV friends and members deputized with happy hour at Mulberry Street Cantina
 
Volunteer Deputy Registrars are the awesome people who give you those voter registration forms and help people register to vote. With a presidential election coming up in November, it will be more important than ever to make sure as many citizens are registered as possible! The last day to register to vote for the upcoming presidential election is October 11, 2016.

Minutes Annual Meeting - DRAFT
 
A draft of the minutes of the Annual Meeting held May 21, 2016 is available as a PDF.

http://www.lwvdenton.org/pdf/2016_AnnualMeeting_Minutes_DRAFT.pdf

Please forward corrections to Robbie Sittel, Secretary, secretary@lwvdenton.org.

I Voting

I
Elections



Be a Texas Voter!
Your Dues at Work!

She won the vote in 1920... but it's your job to make it count!

Join or Renew Online Today!

 

Members of LWV-Denton are also members of the national league, LWV-US, (www.lwv.org) and the state league, LWV-TX (www.lwvtexas.org).
Denton Senior Center Service Project
 
Members of the League of Women Voters of Denton volunteer in lieu of rent at the Denton Senior Center for use of the Orange Meeting Room.

Contact Sue Smith if you can help with this important work of LWV-Denton.
Great news for Texas Voters!

New Procedures for Voting in Person All citizens wishing to vote must still be on the official list of registered voters. For the November 8th election, the deadline to register is October 11th.

Voters may still use one of seven (7) forms of photo ID, listed below. IDs may be expired up to four years. (Previously IDs could be expired no more than 60 days.)

- Driver license
- Texas Election Identification Certificate (EIC)
- Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
- Texas license to carry a handgun issued by DPS
- US military identification card containing the person's photograph
- US citizenship certificate containing the person's photograph
- US passport

ADDITIONALLY, new procedures allow registered voters without photo ID to sign a simple form* and present one of the following documents to vote a regular ballot:

- Valid voter registration certificate (card)
- Certified birth certificate
- Current utility bill
- Bank statement
- Government check
- Paycheck
- Any other government document with the individual's name and address

*The one-page form is called the "Voter's Declaration of Reasonable Impediment or Difficulty"

Prohibition of Voter Harassment

Election officials cannot question a voter about the use of an ID type Poll watchers may never question a voter about Voter ID issues The ID address does not have to match the voter registration address. It was also made clear that the ID address does not have to match the voter registration address.

No Provisional Ballots

Voters who present one of the alternate documents and sign the declaration form "shall be permitted to vote a regular ballot."

Other Provisions

Declaration forms must be translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese for use in those counties required to provide voting materials in those languages.

A signed declaration form can be rejected "only upon conclusive evidence that the person completing the declaration is not the person in whose name the ballot will be cast."

Read official Texas Secretary of State information on Voter ID
http://www.votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/need-id

Learn more on the League's Voting Rights and Election Laws Issue Page
http://www.lwvtexas.org/Voter_Rights_Election_Laws.html

(Adapted from http://www.lwvtexas.org/ID.html)
The Next Uniform Election Date is November 8, 2016
 

Last Day to Register to Vote Tuesday, October 11, 2016

First Day of Early Voting Monday, October 24, 2016

Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail Friday, October 28, 2016

Last Day of Early Voting Friday, November 4, 2016

 

2016 Election Calendar

Denton County Voter Registration Database Search

 

The 2016-2017 Voter Registration Certificate is Blue.

 
Join The League
Dues are $50 for an individual member; $75 for two household members residing at the same address; and $20 for full-time students. Send a check payable to LWV-Denton to the treasurer at LWV-Denton, PO Box 424945, Denton TX 76204 or join online at lwvdenton.org.
 

Officers 2016-2017
Sue Smith, President 940-387-1016 president@lwvdenton.org
Jan Johnson, Program VP vpprogram@lwvdenton.org
Laurel Crawford, Organization VP vporganization@lwvdenton.org
Julie Leuzinger, Community Relations VP vpcommunityrelations@lwvdenton.org
Christine Marion, Treasurer treasurer@lwvdenton.org
Robbie Sittel, Secretary secretary@lwvdenton.org
Directors director@lwvdenton.org
Courtney Cross, Karen Jackson, Linnie McAdams, Alexis Rickmers
Nominations nominations@lwvdenton.org
Kay Branum, Chair, Bill Giese, Judy Giese
Denton VOTER Editor newsletter@lwvdenton.org

Denton VOTER is published the first day of every month. Deadline is the 25th of the preceding month. Use this form to submit material.

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