Thanks to folks for coming out and supporting the community! Some students and their parents attended the last rally and chose signs from those provided. On a related note, Indivisible is streaming a series on Immigrant Justice. The next one is number three in a five part series (click image below to sign up). Find the previous ones on YouTube.

Mark Your Calendars

Americans For Democracy Rallies

Saturdays, 9 am - 10 am: Join us on the SW corner of the town square in La Grange, around the intersection of Main St and W Travis St. Parking is available around the square and surrounding streets. Register through Mobilize and/or check your emails for updates, themes, cancellations, etc.. Registration is NOT required and we do not require any information if you come.

League of Women Voters: Day of Action

August 8th (Saturday), 10 am - 12 pm: New to voting? Are you curious about vote-by-mail or have other general questions? The Fayette County League of Women Voters is here to help answer questions and even practice so you are not intimidated when you walk through the doors of your polling center. Voter Registration ~ Voting Machine Demonstration ~ Questions Answered. Location: Schulenburg Public LIbrary, 310 Simpson St, Schulenburg, TX 78956.

Bastrop Get-Out-The-Vote Training

August 8th (Saturday), 10 am - 12 pm: Midterms are almost here and you can play a role. There are different ways you can help such as phone-banking, door-knocking, and more. Come learn ways to get out in the community to get voters to show up at the polls. Click Here for more  information. Location: Bastrop Public Library, 1100 Church St, Bastrop, TX 78602.

Democratic Luncheon

August 20th (Thursday), 11:30 am: We will once again meet in the side room at La Marina (1502 State Hwy 71, La Grange). Please join us for a meal (your cost), updates, and lively conversation.

Tri-County Get-Out-The-Vote Rally

September 13th (Sunday), 2 pm - 5 pm: Hosted by Bastrop, Lee, and Fayette County Democratic Parties along with Coalition of Democratic Allies. Meet the candidates fighting for our farms, our families, and our future. Hear where they stand, ask questions, and connect with neighbors who are ready to make a difference. To keep up with updates on this event, click here. Location: Bastrop Convention and Exhibit Center, 1408 Chestnut St, Bastrop, TX 78602

Know Your Districts

Confused about all the redistricting lately? You are not alone. To recap, the 89th Texas Legislature redistricted the US Congressional Maps in 2025. After a US Supreme Court ruling, these new maps will be in effect for 2026 elections.  NOTE: this only affected the US House of Representatives and not the US Senate. The districts for our State Legislature remain the same as well. Here's the breakdown for Fayette County:

If you do not live in Fayette County:

The Texas Tribune provides old and new US Congressional maps using a search engine based on your address: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/04/2025-texas-redistricting-maps/

If you need to know more than just your new US Congressional district, the 'Who Represents Me" page of texas.gov has an address based search engine that will give you a chart similar to the chart above:  https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

Our Candidates

Dr. Lawrence D. Brandyburg, Texas House, District 85, https://drlawrencebrandyburg.com/about/: Lawrence has been to a few of our functions, including a Saturday protest and the Pride Happy Hour back in June. He has an extensive career in higher education with experience in private industry as well. He originally graduated from Blinn Community College and served in the military during Desert Storm. He wants to make a Texas that works for everyone.

Erica Gillum,Texas Senate, District 18, https://www.gillumfortexas.com/ : Erica is a lifelong Texan and second generation politician. Both she and her father served as Mayor of Hempstead, TX, decades apart.  She helped to bring real, tangible changes through citywide drainage and infrastructure projects. She understands that the political fight is more about top to bottom (billionaires versus the impoverished) rather than a left versus right political agenda.

Gina Hinojosa,Texas Governor, https://ginafortexas.com/about/ : Gina started advocating for Texas as a civil rights and union lawyer, and was part of the legal team that sued Tom DeLay (then Texas House Majority leader) for money laundering in 2005. Later in 2015, she was part of the Austin ISD school board and helped keep schools from closing. She has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2019 working to increase teacher pay and healthcare access.

Tanya Lloyd, US House, District 27, https://www.tanyafortx27.com/meet_tanya: Tanya was able to join the last Democratic Luncheon. Being a teacher in a Title 1 school, she understands the perspectives of a rural community. From her bio, she states, "I have seen firsthand how hard it is to 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' when you only have flip-flops." She is genuinely passionate about reviving rural Texas healthcare and education.

James Talarico, US Senate, https://jamestalarico.com/meet-james-talarico/ : James spoke in Leander just the other month (see June newsletter), and you probably already know his name as he's in perhaps the most watched US Senate race this year. Early on, James was a teacher in San Antonio and saw first hand how a system can keep impoverished people down. He has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2018 where he has helped pass legislation to expand job opportunities for young adults and lower the cost of child care.

Your Vote Matters

Now that you can locate your district and know a few candidates, how do you vote? How do you get registered? What documents are required? Is the SAVE Act going to change the rules? Several of us have worked really hard developing this guide for voting "white belts" to help mold them into the badass voting ninjas this state, and this country, desperately needs right now. And if you're not new to this, you will likely still find some information helpful for yourself or to share.

Current General Requirements
contributed by Justin McCord

Registering: A valid government ID number is all that is required to register to vote (for example, a driver's license or social security number). You also must be a resident of the county where you submit your registration. Think of this as your application to vote. The deadline to register is 30 days before the election. For 2026, that's October 5th. So get on it! You can register in person, or you can complete the form online which must be printed, signed, and mailed. There is not true online voter registration in Texas.
For more registration info:
https://www.votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/index.html
Need more help? Contact us:
https://www.fayettetxdemocrats.org/home/contact/

Voting: When you vote in person, there are seven forms of acceptable ID. If you cannot provide one of these, there is a form called the Reasonable Impediment Declaration that you can fill out at the time of voting and present it with an alternative form of ID. Voting by mail requires a separate form as well and should be received at least 11 days before the election in which you want to vote. The 'By Mail' application and actual by-mail voting also require one of four valid ID numbers. 
For in-person voter ID requirements:
https://www.votetexas.gov/voting/need-id.html
For more info on voting by mail:
https://www.votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/index.html 

Become a VDR (Volunteer Deputy Registrar)
contributed by Judy Balch

Volunteer Deputy Registrars are entrusted with the responsibility of officially registering voters in the State of Texas. Becoming a VDR is not difficult. Training information will tell you exactly what to do. Once you are a certified VDR in one county it is not difficult to get registered in other counties.

All materials are available in English and Spanish.

Training: There are written guides on the Texas Secretary of State website and remote training with Texas Together VDR. You can also get the training packet from Fayette County Elections Administrator, Donna Macik, at 275 Ellinger Rd.,Ste A., phone 979-968-6563. She will answer questions, give you the short quiz, and give you the VDR# you will need to register voters. The training materials can be passed on to other people but each person must complete the quiz and get a personal VDR#.

Voter Registration Forms: As a certified VDR you will assist prospective voters in filling out the information on the Voter Registration Form. Please note that there are specific guidelines for anyone who is assisting in the application process depending on whether they are or are not a certified VDR.

Please read the training material carefully but these are a few things to remember:

*The prospective voter must be a US Citizen and be 18 yrs old on or before election day. Further down the application will be proof in the form of their Driver’s License and/or their Social Security Number. They also must sign the form.

*If mailing the Registration Form, the applicant may fill it out in your presence or complete it at home and mail it to the Elections Office in the county where they reside (See Fayette County Elections Adminstrator address above). Only a certified VDR may take the form from the applicant to deliver directly to the Elections Office.

*Voters from other counties may send their applications to the Fayette County Elections Office to be sent on to the correct county of residence

See VDR's at work at the League of Women Voters Day of Action, August 8th, 10:00 to NOON, Schulenburg Public Library, 310 Simpson St, Schulenburg, TX 78956. More details above in the 'Mark Your Calendars' section.

Other Helpful Information and Links

How To Be An Election Worker:  https://www.votetexas.gov/get-involved/how-to-become-an-election-worker.html 

How To Become a Poll Watcher: https://www.votetexas.gov/get-involved/poll-watchers.html 

Election Defense Corps by Indivisible: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/916480/ 

The SAVE Act (the short version)
contributed by Laura Logan

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act, or SAVE America Act) has been a sound bite in the media and on social media for quite a while now. But what is it exactly and where does it currently stand? Let’s talk about it.

Only specific documents would be acceptable verification of citizenship. The most common would be a current passport and an official copy of a birth certificate. Real IDs in Texas (e.g., driver’s licenses) do not specifically address citizenship and would need to be paired with a certified birth certificate or another approved proof of citizenship to vote. Oh, and military IDs and Tribal IDs aren't valid by themselves either. The SAVE Act would also eliminate mail-in voter registration and would require a major overhaul of online voter registration systems to meet the new stricter requirements

Satisfying the SAVE Act identification requirements gets much tougher if you are a woman. Once we present our birth certificate, we must present qualifying documentation for each time our name has changed since birth. This process will apply to about 80% of women in America who have been in opposite sex marriages. For these women, not only is a birth certificate required, but also a marriage license for when she married, a divorce decree (or death certificate) verifying when the marriage ended, another marriage certificate if she remarries and changes her name, another divorce decree if it doesn’t work out, etc. Women are required to account for every name change and why it changed. Obtaining all of these documents requires time, money, and dealing with multiple bureaucracies. And as organizations such as the League of Women Voters have pointed out, the SAVE Act lacks clear provisions or language addressing the issue. For a trans person, the issue is not reasonably solvable if a name change has occurred.

Proponents claim it is needed to help shut down voter fraud in elections through additional identification requirements both to register to vote and to vote in elections. However, multiple sources who have studied voter fraud have all come to the conclusion that voter fraud in our elections is so minuscule it is really not an issue at all.

Included in these studies are the findings of conservative organizations such as the CATO Institute and The Heritage Foundation. In fact, data indicates the instance of non-citizen voting is .04%. So the SAVE Act is a “solution” for a problem that does not exist. Does this mean the president and the majority of the Republican Party are confused? Nope. You see, while “election integrity” might be the stated reason for the SAVE Act, it’s not the real reason. The real goal is voter suppression. Republicans fare better in elections when voter turnout is lower. About 52% of voting age citizens don’t have a current passport. That’s approximately 146 million voting age citizens. And, the provisions in the SAVE Act are designed to heavily suppress the voting rights of voter blocks more inclined to vote against Republicans – women, POC, and the poor.

It would also establish a legal penalty of up to five years in prison for election workers who register a voter without proper documentation. It does not matter if it was unintentional or that the legislation is notably lacking in the sort of guidance election workers need. Election workers will be prosecuted. The legislation also mandates every state turn over its voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security who will then cross reference every name against a federal system known as SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements)

The bill is currently stalled in the Senate where it faces strong opposition from Democrats. In response to the SAVE Act stalling in the Senate, House Republicans have attached a provision to the $95 billion budget reconciliation blueprint for $10 billion over 10 years to incentivize states to adopt the voter identification and proof of citizenship requirements included in the SAVE Act. The provision passed the House, 216 to 214. Additionally, components of the legislation have been attached to the fiscal year 2027 NDAA (HR 8800, National Defense Authorization Act) by House Republicans.

Betting and forecasting platforms such as Polymarket estimate the chances the SAVE Act passes this legislative session at approximately 14%. But that’s just this session. Of course, if we all get out and vote to flip the House and the Senate this November that could be the final nail in the SAVE Act’s coffin.

States can also implement all of the provisions of the SAVE Act at a state level and are being heavily encouraged by the White House to do so. It is crucial voters here in Texas vote out the current Republican leadership who have proven themselves eager to comply with this administration’s efforts to suppress the vote and destroy our democracy. We can absolutely do it, but it will take all of us contributing in whatever way we can, large or small, and not just voting Blue up and down the ballot. It is the best way I’m aware of to stop the SAVE Act and an avalanche of other harmful policies as well. 

For more information on the SAVE Act:
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/ 

>>> Until Next Time <<<