• Topic: Who votes? Who decides? Stay tuned!
• Location: Saint John’s UMC, 2140 Allandale Rd, Austin, TX 78756
• Date: September 13, 7:00pm

Rebecca Robertson, Legal and Policy Director of the ACLU of Texas, will share with us information about the recent voter identification laws and the possible impact of these laws in disenfranchising voters. Last week, the D.C. District Court denied the State of Texas request to preclear the requirement that all voters show one of a limited number of photo IDs at the polls. The Texas ID requirements that have been in effect for several years will continue to be in effect at the polls for the Nov. 6 General Election. The ruling came just two days after a federal panel said lawmakers had violated the Voting Rights Act in drawing boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts. While the Texas voter ID law will not apply this election, voter ID laws have been passed in other states. Opponents of the voter ID laws say that they unlawfully reduce the ability of the poor, minority, and disabled to effectively exercise their electoral rights.

MFSA encourages you to help with voter registration. Jan Dawes will share information about opportunities to be trained to register voters and to assist in voter registration efforts in Travis County. The deadline for registering to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election is October 9. For more information visit http://www.traviscountytax.org/goVotersVDR.do. An excellent source of voter information is the League of Women Voters website http://www.lwvtexas.org/.

Please join us as we consider how we can be engaged in the upcoming election. We will gather at Saint John’s UMC, 2140 Allandale Rd, Austin at 6:30pm for snacks & mingling. The program begins at 7:00. We hope to see you there!