VOTER January 2015 Upcoming Meetings January General Meeting January 29, 2015 General Meeting Lunch: El Paso Club 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Discussion of projects for this spring $20/person Thursday, January 29 at the El Paso Club (top of Chase Bank downtown) from 11:30am - 1:00pm. We will have their delicious buffet lunch at a cost of $20/person. Valet parking will be validated. 3rd Vice President (Organization) Susan Cooper: Instead of a speaker, we will discuss topics of interest. We can discuss the State of the Union speech and the issues LWVUS and LWVTX are interested in. Another topic could be voter turnout for the May elections. Considering the low turnout for the November elections, we need to consider what we could do to increase turnout for the May 9 election. This will be an important election with candidates for the city councils in El Paso, Clint and Vinton plus trustees for school boards in the El Paso, Anthony, San Elizario, Socorro, Tornillo, Ysleta ISDs and the Community College . Secretary: Janet Kincaid CITY, INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT ELECTION DATES: LWVEP Board of Directors President: Janet Monteros 1st Vice President (Programs): Donna Minear 2nd Vice President (Community Relations): Barbara Montoya Treasurer: Pat White Directors: Stephanie Welch, Dorothy Peca, Suzi Grizich, Carol Wallace January 28, 2015 -first day for candidate to file an application for a place on the ballot February 27, 2015 - Last day for candidate to file an application for place on ballot for general election April 9, 2015 - last date to register to vote in May 9, 2015 general election April 27, 2015 - first day of early voting in person May 5, 2015 -- last day of early voting MAY 9, 2015 -- ELECTION DAY President’s Message: Dear MembersWe had a wonderful annual luncheon at the Mustard Seed Café, it was a great opportunity to acquaint ourselves with a tremendous endeavor. The Mustard Seed Café was formed in 2011 by three friends, Christi Brown, Patsy Burdick, and Shelley Speicher. They become convinced that a pay-what-you-can café is God’s invitation to learn humility, compassion, kindness, and love. As their website states: “The idea is to create a table where everyone eats…regardless of their ability to pay.” It was truly a reflective time for our hectic holiday season. Since a lot of our members enjoy having a time to meet and greet at the El Paso Club, we decided to substitute our January membership meeting for a noon meeting at the El Paso Club. We will update you on what is going on with regard to our voter registrar training as well as other activities, such as our upcoming televised election forums We hope to see you all there! In League, Janet I. Monteros, President New Members LWV Texas Lobby Days Sally & Paul Kennedy 10544 Texwood Ave El Paso, TX 79925 [email protected] 549-4885 February 23-24, 2015 Voter Deputization Registrars For all of us who are deputized to register voters, our deputization expired Dec 2014 which means we have to be retrained and redeputized. The elections office has scheduled training for Thursday, February 12, 2014 at 3:00 am and Wednesday, February 25 at 10:00am in the County Courthouse Commissioners Court, 3rd floor. El Paso County Elections Department will continue to deputize walk-in’s in their office located at 500 E. San Antonio, Suite #314, El Paso, Texas 79901 every Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., excluding holidays and election cycle. Vote411 Vote411 is LWV’s online voters guide for elections – including the upcoming May election. Closer to the election you can go to www.Vote411.org, enter your address and you will see what races you can vote in and who the candidates for that race are. Agenda for February 23, 2015 12:00 Registration 12:30 Welcome by Elaine Wiant, President, League of Women Voters of Texas 12:50 Remarks by Chad W. Dunn, Brazil & Dunn, Legal Counsel for Lead Plaintiffs in the Texas Voter ID Litigation 1:40 Water Panel – Laura Blackburn, Advocacy Vice President, League of Women Voters of Texas  Dr. Andrew Sansom, Director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University  David Phillips, Expert on Fracking and Water Use 3:10 Remarks by Alma Allen, Texas House of Representatives, District 131 4:00 Remarks by Kathy Miller, Texas Freedom Network 5:00 Adjourn On Tuesday, February 24, we will be meeting in the Member’s Lounge from 9:00 until 10:30. We will be reviewing our priorities and Brooke Bennett, Senior Policy Analyst for Representative Donna Howard, will give us her insights on best practices for lobbying. At 10:30, we will visit with our legislators, reviewing our priorities for the 84th Legislative Session and giving them a copy of “We Support.” The cost of Lobby Days is $10.00, and we hope that all of you will pre‐register online. We will be sending a special email giving you all of that information. Spread the word and plan to join us!