Fighting in Solidarity: YWCAs of Texas Urge You to Vote

YWCAs across Texas are on a mission to encourage you to prioritize women/girls, trans, non-binary, and people of color with your vote this year. Through a get out the vote video project, YWCAs across the stare are wanting you to vote with Texas women, rans, non-binary, and people of color in mind. Women are the cornerstone of families, communities, neighborhoods that make up our great state and we trust that you will vote for leadership that systemically uplift women at the ballot box. Elected state leadership has immense influence on how women are able to live and thrive in Texas. We need to choose our leaders carefully and ensure we use our hard won right to vote. Use your voice, use your vote, and put leadership in places that put us front and center, ALWAYS. 

The midterm elections are here with early voting lasting until Friday, November 4 and the official day taking place on Tuesday, November 8. It is important to be ready for November 8^th as many of the issues we, women, care about will be decided in our backyards: In our state legislatures, in mayors’ and governors’ offices, and more.

We must remember that voter suppression in Texas is rampant and our voices are continuously trying to be silenced. Texas does not offer online voter registration and only allows voting by mail for those who are 65 years or older, have a disability or an illness, are incarcerated, will be outside their county, or who are expected to give birth within three weeks of election day. And furthermore, during the 2020 election, Texas refused to allow voting by mail despite concerns about exposure to COVID-19. When one goes to the polls, they face long lines with often limited options of where to vote. In my neighborhood of Hornsby Bend, a largely Latine community, I have no access to an early voting site in my area, I have to instead travel 25 minutes to Del Valle. Continuously, I have only 1 option for a day of polling location. On top of limited access Texas has one of the strictest voter ID requirements in the country, even though people of color and people with disabilities are more likely to lack access to an acceptable form of ID. These are just a few of the acts of suppression in Texas. People of color are disproportionately affected and get silenced. In these midterms there is so much that is at stake for women, trans, non-binary people, people of color and their families.

In the these midterm elections, it is important to vote and use the power given to us by countless people who came before us. Their struggles should not go in vain. There are many ways in which we can continue their fight today. These include encouraging your friends to vote and using your social media platforms to push out the topics, candidates, and policies important to you. YWCA Greater Austin urges you to vote with women, trans, non-binary, and people of color. We need to decriminalize access to abortion and basic healthcare.

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For information about where to vote in your Texas city please visit www.votetexas.gov 

Learn about the Texas 2022 General Election and access a nonpartisan voting guide from our friends at the League of Women Voters Texas https://www.lwvtexas.org 

Learn more about priorities for women in Texas at https://ywomenvote.org  

Watch all YWCAs of Texas Get Out the Vote Videos here.

Prioritize Texas Women, Trans, Non-Binary, and people of color with your vote today!