Blog

On September 16, 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau will deliver their final resources to states to use for redistricting.  The delivery of this final set of resources is the culmination of years of hard work by career staff at the US Census Bureau.  

Like in years past, LWVUS was an official partner of the 2020 Census, helping to prepare and share tools and information to local and state Leagues as they engaged their communities. 

In early September 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed Senate Bill 1 (SB1) into law. This anti-voter legislation makes it virtually impossible for certain voters to cast their ballots. 

Yet shockingly, the situation was almost worse. If not for pro-voter advocacy by the Texas League and other voting rights allies, even more restrictive policies might have been enacted, further disempowering Texans and degrading the promise of democracy.

No matter how much any one person knows about local and state elections or how involved they’ve been in the past, they can find the tools they need to elevate their voices at VOTE411.org.

On July 1, in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, the Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to the freedom to vote. The decision held that Arizona laws discounting ballots cast out of precinct and banning nonrelative neighbors or friends to deliver mail-in ballots did not violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, despite these laws’ negative effects on Black and brown voters. It is a major loss for voting rights at a time when this sacred freedom is under attack across the nation. 

Figure skating has a long way to go to fully reckon with the intertwined ways that patriarchy, homophobia, and racism occur and the resulting harms done to athletes, from Olympic stars down to kids in the learn-to-skate program. It is a fiercely gendered sport, especially in pairs skating.

My pairs partner, Erica Rand, and I are challenging those binary gender norms. In doing so, we are also hoping to open up the sport we love to people of all genders and gender expressions.

Though their work styles are vastly different, each of these women made our country a fairer, more just place. 

For far too long, people of color have been denied justice. No one is above the law, especially police officers who have taken an oath to protect, serve and enforce the laws. Passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is a necessary step towards holding officers liable for their actions and prohibiting the tactics that have already caused far too many deaths.   

Census data needed to draw maps has been released and map drawing is beginning. The time is now for the public to get involved!

In 2020, we experienced significant delays in the receipt of census data. This is largely due to an updated privacy protection model, which ensures greater confidentiality for respondents while keeping the data’s accuracy. 

The League was founded to empower women to fully participate in our democracy, and today, we continue that work alongside our allies who focus on empowering other marginalized communities.  

To that end, we’re investing more than $5 million this year alone into a new programmatic focus — Women Power Democracy — to support initiatives that will help us realize a stronger, more representative American democracy.