NCJW Texas’ Advocacy Teams have been preparing for this session since their September Leadership Retreat and were recently at a Texas Impact briefing specifically focused on our efforts. We asked NCJW Dallas Past President and State Policy Advocate (SPA) Caren Edelstein to describe their plan.

Last week you shared details about our strategic approach to Women’s Health legislation being proposed in Austin. Do we have a similar approach to Voting Rights legislation?
CAREN: We hope to but there have been close to 500 Voting Rights bills introduced and – so far – we have no idea what’s going to come out of committee! By our March Day on the Hill visits, we’ll know a lot more, but all I can share with you now is the good, the bad and the ugly…

Let’s start with the bills we like!
CAREN: There are many bills that expand voting rights, some that are general bills and some targeted at specific groups with special needs. The two general bills we support allow for same day voter registration and for online voter registration. We also like bills that allow voter registration at jails and one that requires all prisons to be a polling place so that registered prisoners (and members of the community) can vote.

Other bills target younger voters by requiring that all colleges have polling places (the state has recently removed polling places from some Historically Black Colleges) and that allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they will be 18 by Election Day.

And what about the bills that we don’t like?
CAREN: Four types of bills have been introduced that could really restrict voting rights. Two of them would make it harder to vote by mail and would decrease the number of days for early voting. A third contains faster ways to purge voting rolls and the bill that we’re possibly most concerned about would shift responsibility for elections from local officials to the Secretary of State, essentially giving us state-run elections.

Is there anything else we need to keep an eye on?
CAREN: Yes – we’re doing redistricting again! The last session’s redistricting was done in a special session and the law requires that it be done in regular session, so we have to redo it. That said, they’re starting with the same maps that they used last time so we’re expecting a similarly gerrymandered result.

Any last thoughts?
CAREN: YES! Many of us found ourselves in new districts during the last election cycle and ended up with representatives that we didn’t vote for. But those are exactly the people we will need to persuade to NOT further restrict voting rights! If you live in that kind of district, PLEASE consider joining us in Austin – as a constituent, we’ll be able to visit the people we need to see!!!