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THE VOTER
November 2018
Message from the Leadership Team
Election Day is just a week away - Tuesday, November 6. Please encourage your friends and family to use the League's Voters Guide and VOTE411.org to inform themselves about the candidates. And remind them to vote, if they haven't already!
General Membership Meeting, November 8
The November general membership meeting will be held on Thursday, November 8, at Riverhill Country Club, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Maggie Megee will serve as moderator for the meeting. Please make reservations with Debby Berry at dbbybrry@aol.com by Thursday, November 1st.

Program
Benjamin C. Montoya, Ph.D., Schreiner University Assistant Professor of History, will give a talk about the historical development of voting rights in the United States. According to Professor Montoya, “the concept of who comprised the voting public has changed massively from the late eighteenth century to the mid twentieth century.” This lecture will describe the social, political, and economic forces that underlined the evolving nature of the people , and how the U.S. Constitution has at various times spurred on the expansion of voting, while at other times retarded the growth of suffrage. He will touch on themes such as immigration, naturalization, war, race, and gender.

Professor Montoya earned his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2015. He studies U.S.-Mexican relations. His article, entitled “‘A Grave Offense of Significant Consequences’: Mexican Perspectives on the U.S. attempt to restrict Mexico’s immigration during the late 1920s,” was published in May 2018 by the Pacific Historical Review . His book, tentatively entitled Risking “Immeasurable Harm”: The Diplomacy of Immigration Restriction in U.S.-Mexico Relations, 1924 to 1932, is under contract with the University of Nebraska Press. He was also a co-editor of and contributor to Beyond 1917: American Legacies of the Great War , which was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. 

Professor Montoya lives in Kerrville with his wife and two children.
League Hosts Candidate Forums
LWV Hill Country conducted three candidate forums for the 2018 Election:

Saturday - September 29 at Dietert Center, Kerrville
The ten candidates for the five places on the Fourth Court of Appeals were invited by our League for a table rotation style forum: five Democratic candidates and five Republican candidates. Six candidates were able to participate: Patricia Alvarez, Luz Elena Chapa, Rebecca Martinez, Liza Rodriguez, Rebecca Simmons, and Beth Watkins. League members Jeannette Ruark (Voters Service) and Bunny Bond (Member at Large) were the Forum Coordinators.

Tuesday - October 16 at Blanco County Library, Blanco
The two candidates for Texas House District 45 participated in a panel style forum: Ken Strange and Erin Zwiener. League member Mary Ellen Summerlin (Treasurer) was the Forum Coordinator. Other League members who assisted with the forum were Bunny Bond, Cathy Learoyd, and Bonnie Powers.

Tuesday - October 23 at Bandera Electric Coop, Bandera
Four of the six candidates for positions on the Bandera City Council participated in the table rotation style forum: Suzanne Schauman (Mayor), Brice Cavanaugh (member BCC), Glenn Clark (member BCC), and Toni Kunz (member BCC). League member Bunny Bond was the Forum Coordinator. League members from Kerrville who assisted with the forum were Debby Berry, Cathy Learoyd, and Julie Sentell. Two League members from Bandera who also assisted were Debby Gibson and Loo Smith.

Thanks to all the League members who assisted with making democracy work and educating voters. The candidates at all three forums were grateful for the opportunity to talk directly to voters.
VOTERS GUIDES for the 2018 General Election Made Available
LWV-Hill Country ordered 500 printed copies of the nonpartisan Voters Guide in English and 300 printed copies in Spanish. Jeannette Ruark (Voters Service) and Bunny Bond (Member at Large) worked on distribution lists and prioritized the delivery of the guides.

LWV-Texas stressed that libraries were places where people could access a copy of a Voters Guide, so first priority was given to the fourteen libraries in the seven counties served by LWV-HC. Calls were made to library directors to ask about a possible number to be made available for library users, and deliveries were made. Two of the fourteen libraries ordered copies sent directly to them: Bandera and Fredericksburg.

The second priority was to deliver Voters Guides to high schools in Kerr County, since a voter registration focus this year has been high schools. Other priority deliveries were made to the Kerr County Courthouse Election Department and the Kerr County Courthouse Annex in Ingram, newspapers in Kerr County, restaurants (especially the Spanish edition), and other places. Thanks to Bonnie Powers for receiving the boxes of Voters Guides and helping to separate the editions and allocate the numbers using shelves in her garage.

Rain and flooding delayed some of the distribution for awhile, but every copy eventually found “a home.” The exciting part is when requests for more copies start coming in. Early evaluation by Jeannette and Bunny is that we need to order more copies next time to include all of the places we identified this time and to include places in all seven counties in the LWV-HC geographical service area: Bandera, Edwards, Gillespie, Kendall, Kimble, Kerr, and Real. This project will take more person-power!
Mark Your Calendars
Tuesday, November 6, 2018  – Election Day
Thursday, November 8, 2018 - General Membership Meeting
Join Us!
Be a member of the League; we invite you to join us!  A membership form can be found on our website or you may contact Julie Sentell, Membership Coordinator, at julie.sentell@me.com.  

Our League’s annual dues are $60 for an individual or $85 for two in a household, and $25 for student memberships.  Dues are prorated from January. Please include your name(s), address, email address, and phone number. Make your check payable to LWV-Hill Country and mail to LWV-HC, PO Box 290303, Kerrville, TX 78029-0303.  Join the League and help make democracy work.
 
And consider giving a membership to a student, as they need only be 16 years of age to join.
League of Women Voters-Hill Country - Leadership Team
Treasurer : Mary Ellen Summerlin
Membership Coordinator: Julie Sentell
Facebook Administrator: Twanda Brown
Voters Service:  Jeanette Ruark
Webmaster : Debby Berry
Members-at-large : Bunny Bond, Gillian Davidson, Maggie Megee
President’s email (presidentlwvhc@gmail.com) :  Debby Berry
Stay Connected

The LWV-Hill Country welcomes your questions! Post to our Facebook page or submit questions via e-mail to  presidentlwvhc@gmail.com
About the League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is a local, state, and national nonpartisan organization.  

Please visit the LWV-Texas state website,  my.lwv.org/texas .  There you will find more voter information and the League positions on a variety of issues.  The League develops its positions after study and consensus.

The LWV-Texas position on the issue of human trafficking in Texas: The League of Women Voters of Texas is opposed to all forms of domestic and international human trafficking of adults and children, including sex trafficking and labor trafficking.  We consider human trafficking to be a form of modern-day slavery and support measures to prevent the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit a person for sexual or labor purposes, to prosecute traffickers and to protect victims. 
 
Go to  http://lwvedu.org for the free, four-hour TEA continuing credit course on issues of human trafficking. Teachers, take note of this!   This is the online course for which we received the state award.

 The national League, LWVUS,  http://www.lwvus.org ,  is actively working to influence public policy through education and advocacy.  Go to this website and see the range of issues from voter rights, voter turnout, reforming money in politics, and defending the environment.
Please Consider . . .
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League of Women Voters - Hill Country, Texas
presidentlwvhc@gmail.com
www.lwvhillcountrytexas.org