Welcome otra vez to this issue of La Voz Newspaper. As you can tell, this issue esta medio
pesado at 40 pages. This is because we are carrying a complete listing of all polling
locations for the City of Austin. If you are connected in any way electronically, you
know early voting has started. Almost every candidate has sent out a message reminding
supporters to turn out to vote.
Some people have said that in Texas people overwhelming vote Republican and that is why
Republicans control virtually all state-wide elected positions and both the Senate and the
House of Representatives. That is not quite true.
Most people in Texas who are registered to vote, do not in fact turn out to vote. As you will see
on Page 10 in this issue, in 2014, 13% of the votes cast in the Texas Governor’s race
were by Democrats, 20% were by Republicans, 1% went to other candidates and 66% of
the registered voters did not bother to turn out to vote.
So it is not that Texas is a Republican state, it is more like Texas is a non-voting state.
And when politicos see that people are not paying attention (i.e. not voting) they take
license to make public policy changes that can many times have terrible outcomes.
Examples that come to mind are the cuts to education in the state, adverse changes to
teacher retirement benefits and a whole host of things.
On November 6th, 2018, you have a chance to make a difference. Yes, I know, you
have heard that phrase many times before. But it is true. In my lifetime, I have seen on
many occasions, where a few votes made a difference in an election outcome. The last time
I ran for public office, I lost by 156 votes. Yo se lo que estoy diciendo. (It was a city council
race in Uvalde, Texas in 2000)
Asi es que, although you may tired of all the text messages and reminders, if you want to a
see a change in public policy in the areas of education, environment or anything else,
turn off the television and invite a friend or family member to go with you to the
polls. Es todo!
Cambiando de tema Allow me to call to your attention the upcoming event
on November 15 thru the 17 at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio,
Texas. On these dates there will be a commemoration and celebration called Holding Up
the Mirror. It is a look back to the 1968 Hearing that was held in San
Antonio by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission on state of Mexican Americans in the
Southwest. Hundreds of people participated in this event and this year, it is expected that
over 500 people will be participating in this commemoration. The event is
free and open to the public. There will be a number seminars, presentations and tables with vendors selling books and a variety of collectables. See the poster on page 37 for more information.
Cambiando de tema. On November 11th, 2018, at The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Maggie Rivas-
Rodriguez has organized a Voces Documentary Film Round Table with some of the
top names in this line of work. The event will be held on a Sunday and starts at 2:00pm.
If you are interested in what is going on in the world of file and documentaries come and check
out this event. (Se me acabo el espacio para dicir todo lo demas.)
____________________________________________________
Copyright 2017 by Alfredo Santos. For the complete issue of La Voz, visit: http://www.lavoznewspapers.com/