VOTER NEWSLETTER
Vol. 63, No. 6 January 2024 Editor: Virginia Marsh
| | Inside this Issue
- From the President
- Join Our Social Event Jan 17
- Remembering Helen St Clair
- So Many Elections!!!!
- Call for Voters Guide Questions
- Registering Voters in 2024
- Richardson on the Road to Becoming a Silver Bike Friendly Community
- Community Inclusion and Engagement Commission
- CHIP and Children's Medicaid Help Session Jan 20
|
Key Dates in January 2024
- Jan 1 First Day to request Ballots by Mail
- Jan 9 Voter Registration at the Richardson League office, 1-4 p.m.
- Jan 16 Voter Registration at the Richardson League office, 1-4 p.m.
- Jan 17 Social Event at LA Burger, 6 p.m.
- Jan 17 through Feb 16 File for a Place on the May 4 ballot for RISD School Board
- Jan 20 CHIP application help session at St Barnabas 9 a.m.-Noon
- Jan 23 Voter Registration at the Richardson League office, 1-4 p.m.
- Jan 30 Voter Registration at the Richardson League office, 1-4 p.m.
- Feb 5 Last day to register to vote in Texas March 5 primaries
- Mar 5 Texas Primary Election
| | | Happy New Year!!!
In the December, 2023 VOTER, I challenged each of you to commit to participating in at least one LWVRichardson event between now and the end of our fiscal year (May 30, 2024).
I hope you've thought about this challenge because we have several events in January that you can help us with!
- Need to register to vote? If you move or change your name, you can change your registration online. You must be registered about 30 days prior to the election in order to vote in the election. LWVR Voter Registration Chair Janet will hold office hours at the LWVR office (300 Coit Road, Suite 125 on the bottom floor of the Promenade Office Tower) on January 9, 16, 23, and 30 from 1pm-4pm. Bring a friend who needs to be registered. You must be registered by February 5 in order to vote in the March 5, 2024 primaries. Questions? Contact Janet at VoterReg@lwvrichardson.org.
- LWVR Voter Service VP Jean will be creating a committee to formulate questions to ask candidates running for Richardson ISD single-member District 1 and at-large Place 7 in the May 4 2024 election. Send any questions you have to Jean at voterservice@lwvrichardson.org. If both RISD races are uncontested, the election will not be held, meaning the Voters Guide and forum will not be needed.
- Every year, LWVR reviews its positions. Be a part of that review! Watch for an email later this month asking you to fill out a survey on whether or not to keep, modify, or delete each of our positions. Questions? Contact Marcia at program@lwvrichardson.org
- Cathy needs help registering new citizens at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) naturalization ceremonies. For information on when/where the next ceremony will be, please contact Cathy at newcitizen@lwvrichardson.org .
It takes a village...and we need your help!
|
Join our Social Event January 17
| Mark your calendars now for our next social gathering on
Wednesday, January 17 at 6:00 p.m. at
2000 N Plano Road
Richardson, Texas
northeast corner of Plano Road & Campbell Road
For dessert, we will proceed to "Sugar - Sweets & Gelato", in the same shopping center, but with the address 1403 Campbell Road.
Our socials are great ways to connect with other League members, enjoy good conversation and support local restaurants. Hope to see you on January 17! |
Remembering Helen St Clair
| Long-time League member Helen St. Clair passed away in November. She was a past President of the League of Women Voters of Richardson. Creativity and her sense of style showed in everything she did from the way she dressed, to decorating of her home, pictures of which were featured in the Richardson Daily News. She was a talented artist in many media, including: drawing, watercolor, sculpting and pottery. She valued her relationships with family and friends, and kept in touch with “The Lunch Bunch,” a group of her League friends.
Following her term as League President, she was given the following proclamation by the League of Women Voters of Richardson. Helen will be missed. |  | As you look at the 2024 election calendar, you will notice that there are a LOT of elections this year. Let's take a look at some of them:
March 5, 2024 - Primary Elections. Unlike other elections, the Primary Elections are conducted by the two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The winner of each Primary contest will represent his or her party on the November General Election ballot. The filing deadline for Primary candidates was December 11, 2023. Listings of candidates who have filed to run are available on the website of the Texas Secretary of State.
May 4, 2024 - RISD School Board members. Up for election this year:
- RISD single-member District 1 (Megan Timme, incumbent)
- RISD at-large Place 7 (Chris Poteet, incumbent)
The period to file for a place on the May 4 ballot is January 17, 2024 through February 16, 2024. We won't know until February 16 if either of the races is contested. If neither race is contested, the election will be canceled and questions will not be needed. However, if we wait until February 16 to begin formulating questions, we won't have them ready in time to send to the candidates, allow time for the candidates to respond, format a Voters Guide, get the Voters Guide to print, and then ready to distribute by April 15 (one week prior to the first day of early voting).
If you or someone you know is interested in running for either of these two Richardson ISD Trustee seats, filing for office will take place from January 17 through February 16. For more information on running for these offices, go to the website of the RISD or call RISD's Elections Office at 469-593-0331.
May 28, 2024 - Primary Runoff Election (for offices where no candidate got more than 50% of votes cast in the March 5 election)
June, 2024 - Local Runoff Election (for offices where no candidate got more than 50% of votes cast in the May 4 election)
November 5, 2024 - General Election. This is the date of the national election for President, Vice-President, some U.S. Senators, all U.S.Representatives, many statewide officials and judges, some Texas Senators, all Texas Representatives, and many regional offices and judges.
|
Call for Voters Guide Questions
| The League of Women Voters of Richardson is compiling and assessing potential questions for the Voters Guide for the May 4 RISD Board of Trustees election. If you wish to submit a topic or question for consideration, please send it to VoterService@LWVRichardson.org by February 16. All topics and questions will be considered, but there is no guarantee that a particular question will be used. We reserve the right to combine questions and/or rewrite them for clarity. |
Registering Voters in 2024
| 2024 is a busy year for elections which means it is a busy time for voter registration! League of Women Voters of Richardson is focusing on efforts to partner with RISD PTAs and other training entities to ensure that potential voters can be registered to vote. We are also reaching out to senior communities to offer opportunities for voter registration as well. Since February 5th is the last day to register to vote for the March 5th primaries, it is crucial to offer as many voter registration opportunities as possible.
If you are interested in helping out as a volunteer, please let us know. It is not necessary to be a Volunteer Deputy Registrar to help. We need several volunteers to participate in each of the various voter registration efforts planned for this year. One of the registration efforts will be to offer voter registration at our office. We will be at Promenade Center, Suite 125 (300 North Coit Road in Richardson) on Tuesdays in January from 1-4pm starting January 9th (1/9, 1/16, 1/23 and 1/30).
January 1 is the first day to request Ballots by Mail for the March 5th primaries and other 2024 elections. For those who qualify to vote by mail in Texas, check the LWVR website for deadline dates.
Contact Janet Centola at VoterReg@lwvricharson.org to see how you can participate in voter registration efforts.
Respectfully submitted by Janet Centola |
Richardson on the Road to Becoming a
Silver Bike Friendly Community
| Daniel Herrig of the Transportation and Mobility staff gave an update to the City Council in November regarding implementation of the City’s Active Transportation Plan (ATP) adopted in February, including current and future mobility projects that align with the City’s “Bicycle Friendly” designation. Richardson became a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community in 2015 and plans to renew the Bicycle Friendly Community designation in 2024 with a goal to achieve Silver-level status.
Below are highlights of Monday’s presentation include projects addressing the 5 Es of the ATP:
Engineering
Richardson’s active transportation network is expanding by 10 percent over the next three to five years, with a total of nine miles of off-street trails and on-street bike lanes. Using funds received to support regional trails through Richardson to and from neighboring communities projects are in varing stages of implementation:
- Cotton Belt Regional Trail: extending from UTD, into Plano at Waterview under President George Bush Turnpike (PGBT), moving east and then back down to feed into the Breckinridge Park trail system
- Central Trail Extension: feasibility study is complete. Design and procurement of a contractor are underway.
- Custer Road: (Connecting City Hall to UTD, and Glenville Drive Bike Lanes between Arapaho and Campbell) should be completed early in 2024.
- Extension of the Duck Creek Trail: at Beltline and Jupiter to connect to trails in Garland are in the planning stages
Dedicated signals at key intersections for bicyclists and more green painted lanes for bicyclist safety are planned.
Planning is in the works for creating multimodal streets which accommodate the unique needs of particular areas of the city, and setting up secure bike parking.
Education/Encouragement
The City hosted or supported a variety of community bicycle safety education and encouragement events this year, including bike rodeos, pop-up bike shops, bike repair clinics, and the development of a “Safe Routes to School” pamphlet.
A proposal is being considered to partner with Bike DFW to train instructors to teach children and adults to ride bikes.
Evaluation and Planning
A public survey to discover the community’s feelings on Richardson as a bike friendly community is in process.
A position of Mobility Planner has been created and filled.
Counts are planned to determine how many users take advantage of trails and where more are needed.
Equity and Accessibility
Projects include:
- Addressing the American Disabilities Act by upgrading more sidewalks, and getting bus shelters for DART users
- Partnering with the University of Texas at Dallas and the Network of Community Ministries to propose bike safety and education classes for adults and seniors
====
Pathways to a Silver Bike Friendly Community
See the full presentation. Questions? Contact Cathy at atp@lwvrichardson.org.
|
Community Inclusion and Engagement Commission
Created by Richardson City Council
| At the November 13th City Council Meeting, Council approved the new nine-member Community Inclusion and Engagement Commission.
- Applications for the new Commission will be accepted in January 2024 with interviews occurring in the February 2024 timeframe and an initial meeting in April 2024.
- The Commission, which shall be representative of the city’s diverse community, was created to act in an advisory capacity to the City Council in matters pertaining to advancing harmony in the community, encouraging inclusion and participation by all stakeholders, and furthering the City’s engagement and outreach on issues such as diversity, inclusion, engagement, and accessibility.
- Appointed members are eligible to serve four two-year terms.
|
CHIP and Children's Medicaid
Application Help Session
on January 20
| The next CHIP/Children's Medicaid Application Session will be:
Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024
9 am to noon
St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church
1220 West Belt Line Road
Richardson, Tx 75080
These are the programs that provide health benefits to children whose families are not covered by private insurance. Part time employees, self-employed entrepreneurs, grandparents who have custody of their grandchildren, unemployed workers, and others find themselves in a position to be helped greatly. The children must be citizens or legal residents and have social security numbers. Both programs offer dental and vision care in addition to medical care such as doctor’s visits, hospitalization, lab procedures, X-rays, immunizations, and much more. Preexisting conditions are covered. Please tell anyone you know who might be interested to come on Jan. 20th.
For more information or to volunteer to help, please text Martha Dorris at 214-793-4712. | | Donate
The League of Women Voters of Richardson relies solely on contributions made by local community residents and businesses. | | | | Join Us
Would you like to help providing election information, registering voters, or influencing public policy?
if you need assistance with joining. | | | |