I'm Down With 16 Year Olds Voting

A lot of debate has cropped up recently because Washington DC is considering lowering the voting age to 16 just in time for the 2020 election.

DC Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) introduced the measure in large part because he was impressed by the recent March For Our Lives in DC and the ongoing eloquence of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students.

The proposed voting age change has majority support on the DC council (7 members out of 13), and will probably pass if it comes to a vote.

But why stop in DC?   Let's lower the voting age to 16 across the United States.   16 year olds in many cases are more cognizant of the issues that affect them than their elders twice or three times their age in many cases.

The youngest member of our Houston Mayor's LGBT Advisory Board, Lily Pando, was just 16 years old when she was tapped to join it when it was formed two years ago.  It wasn't a publicity stunt because she is an intelligent young woman and one of our rising star young leaders here in Houston.  When Lily speaks, we elders listen.

It's not unusual for me to see our TBLGQ World teens leading the charge for the expansion of trans (and everybody's) human rights and being eloquent voices for other policy issues of concern to them.

If you think I'm kidding about that, does  Jazz Jennings ring a bell?

It also hasn't surprised me that the MSD students in the wake of the mass shooting on their campus have been kicking butt and have the NRA, the Republican Party and right wing media on the defensive.

I was 14 when Jimmy Carter got elected POTUS.  I would have loved to have been able to vote in that 1976 presidential election instead of holding up a sign and marching through my neighborhood with several other kids imploring people to vote for him.

I turned 16 in 1978. Had I been eligible to do so, I definitely would have done my part to keep Bill Clements out of the Texas governor's chair.   One of my presents I received for my 18th birthday in 1980 was a voter registration card. 

If 16 year olds can drive, be tried as adults for any serious crimes they commit, and work jobs in which their wages can be taxed,  then why shouldn't those same 16 year olds have a say in who runs the government?

It's also a good idea for democracy.  The earlier you get someone to start consistently voting, the more it becomes a lifelong practice.

So yes, I'm down with 16 year olds voting, and the sooner we pass this policy change, the better. .

50th Anniversary Of The Signing Of The Voting Rights Act

August 6 is also the day 50 years ago that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.   I find it deliciously apropos that yesterday the 5th Circuit Court struck down the Texas Voter Suppression (ID) law for the third time using Section 2 of the law.

The Voting Rights Act when it was signed into law by President Johnson, resulted in the mass enfranchisement of racial minorities across the nation.   It was markedly dramatic in the South, where the Jim Crow voter suppression and blatant disenfranchisement mechanisms in place were successful in denying African-Americans the right to vote.

The VRA was designed to enforce the voting rights provision in the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution, and has been updated and amended five times by Congress to expand its protections.  It is considered the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted by Congress, which is why it has also been under relentless attack by the conservative movement and the Republican Party..

The Voting Rights Act is not only groundbreaking legislation, it led to a dramatic expansion in the number of African-American politicians at all levels of government including four decades later the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.

It's why I and other African Americans are still highly pissed off about the Supreme Court's racist and clueless 2013 ruling in Shelby v. Holder that gutted a key enforcement provision in the Section 4(b) 'coverage formula' , that was designed to encompass jurisdictions that had historically engaged in egregious voting discrimination at the time the VRA was passed, and was subsequently updated in 1970 and 1975.

The coverage formula was the part that made the Section 5 preclearance provision work, and while the SCOTUS didn't strike Section 5 down, by shadily declaring unconstitutional the coverage formula, they basically made Section 5 unenforceable for the time being until Congress can pass a legislative fix to update the old formula.

While this should have been fixed immediately, and President Obama called on Congress today to act on the VRA fix legislation that Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) has filed to do so, good luck with that happening in a dysfunctional GOP controlled House and Senate whose party is heavily invested in keeping the number of voter going to the polls down in order to win elections.

As a result of Section 5 being gutted and the feds having to prosecute voting rights and discrimination cases using the VRA's Section 2 , the immediate result was Republican controlled legislatures gleefully started passing voter (ID) suppression laws designed to mess with and severely restrict the ability of  non-white voters to cast their ballots.  Texas' then Attorney General (now Governor, boo hiss) Greg Abbott, despite having the Texas Voter Suppression Law being struck down in federal court twice, reinstated the unjust law within hours of the SCOTUS misguided 5-4 ruling.

It resulted in the 2014 election cycle in 600,000 predominately non-white Texans not being able to vote.

So on this 50th anniversary of the passage of this groundbreaking law, let's remember that it safeguards the voting rights of all Americans, and must be defended by all who cherish human rights in our country.

Hillary Clinton TSU Voting Rights Speech

Hillary Clinton has been in Texas for the last three days to do some fundraising and other events in the Lone Star State to shore up the Democratic base here.

Yesterday afternoon she was on the Texas Southern University campus to receive a public service award named for the late Rep..Barbara Jordan, who was an alumnus of the university.

The speech was broadcast live on C-SPAN, and for those of you missed the speech, here's the video of it.

Ferguson Elections Result In Major Changes

In addition to Chicago, yesterday was election day in Ferguson, MO.  

The town that ripped the scab off the festering wound of police brutality aimed at the African-American community and laid to rest the lie that this is a post racial nation, had an all white city council and white mayor in a town that is predominately Black primarily because of low election participation rates.

After months of voter registration drives that sought as a goal to change that depressing paradigm, the test of those efforts came yesterday.   A record turnout from 10% to 30% resulted in a tripling of the African-American representation on the six member city council.

Mayor James Ferguson was fortunately for him, not up for re-election

Councilman Dwayne James is one of only two African-Americans ever elected to the Ferguson City Council, and wasn't up for re-election.  After last night's election,  he will be joined on council by Ella Jones and Wesley Bell.    Bell defeated another African-American, Lee Smith to earn his seat

It points out what I have been saying for years.  Not only do elections matter, but as the people who are trying mightily to suppress your voting power know, turnout matters as well.

And it matters who the people are sitting at the table with the power to write legislation and making the policies that affect the entire community.

The peeps in Ferguson now have a city council that tripled its representation because they took their souls to the polls.

To borrow an old saying from the 'hood, you have to be in it to win it. That saying is especially applicable to elections and voting as well.   It's also one that needs to repeated in African-American communities across the country in each and EVERY election cycle.

The Litmus Test

TransGriot guest post by Dawn Wilson

This election is a litmus test . A simple test of intelligence . What is a litmus test you ask? In the political sense it is a test that uses a single indicator to prompt a decision . So your choices for this test are so simple a kindergartner has the cognitive ability to handle the following question.

The question is what do you value?
If you value Education, you vote.
If you value Civil Rights, you vote.
If you value Health Care, you vote.
If you value the 2nd Amendment, you vote.
If you value Freedom of Religion, you vote.
If you value your community whatever that may entail,  you vote.

Voting is your voice.  Without it, that voice is minimized.

Some candidates are not ideal. Some are evil. But to refuse to engage in a process that can fuel change is imbecilic at best and detrimental and destructive at worst. Some people will vote against their interests and what they value and be shocked with the outcome, while others will vote their values and may not pleased with the outcome .

In either case they have a voice, a strong one and more versed one . Remember Ferguson? In the most recent elections, turnout was just 12% and sadly we see the result. Because people stayed at home and did not vote what they valued, the people who were elected to care for the community, the people who hired the police who act in such a horrible manner, failed . 

And those who failed to vote were the catalyst .

Now new voter registration numbers suggest that the Michael Brown shooting has kindled a new sense of civic engagement among many Ferguson, MO residents.  More than 3,000 people in the Missouri city of 21,000 have registered to vote. That represents a increase of more than 25 percent in voter registration in just two months. Total voters registered in Ferguson are now 14,428 as of mid-day Thursday, and still rising, according to the St. Louis County Board of Elections.

So voting doesn't matter?  Local, state and national elections are a joke? The events over the last few months should dispel that notion. Out of 31 democratic countries, the United States has the lowest voter turnout numbers. Racism, economics, and Voter ID laws all affect voting, but even with these obstacles voting is our best chance to change the future.

Even the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr was quite aware of the power of voting as a catalyst for
change.

"One of the most basic weapons in the fight for social justice will be the cumulative political power of the Negro. I can foresee the Negro vote becoming consistently the decisive vote in national elections.'"

So here is your test – A. Vote for what you value   B. Vote against your interest C. Don't Vote and be silenced . Test day is November 4th . Good luck.

Texas Voter Suppression Law Struck Down Again

Last night we Texans received some wonderful news with early voting scheduled to start on October 20. 

After hearing three weeks of testimony, the odious Texas Voter suppression law was declared unconstitutional (well, duh)  in a ruling by US District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos in Corpus Christi.

FYI, she was appointed  to the federal bench by President Obama , so here's another example of elections mattering and why you butt needs to be bumrushing the polls in this and EVERY election cycle .

Back to your regularly scheduled blogpost.  

This wasn't the first time SB 14 has run afoul of the VRA and the Constitution.   The odious Shelby County v. Holder SCOTUS ruling weakening the preclearance provision of the VRA gave Texas Atty Gen. Greg Abbott his opportunity to implement one of the toughest in the country voter suppression laws.

Judge Ramos equated the unjust law, which passed the Texas Legislature in 2011 and has been in effect since last year, to the poll taxes of the Jim Crow-era South that were used to hinder minorities’ ability to cast ballots.

“The Court holds that S.B. 14 creates an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote, has an impermissible discriminatory effect against Hispanics and African-Americans, and was imposed with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose,” Ramos’ opinion said. “The Court further holds that SB 14 constitutes an unconstitutional poll tax.”

Judge Ramos ruling drew swift commentary from both sides of the political aisle. As Greg Abbott through a spokesperson promised to quickly appeal it to the conservafool leaning US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Texas Democrats and liberal progressive people hailed the ruling.

“As our former President Lyndon B. Johnson once said: ‘It is wrong—deadly wrong—to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country,’” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement.

“This ruling affirms what Democrats have known all along, the Republican majority in the Texas Legislature deliberately passed a voter/photo ID law to disenfranchise Texas voters based on race,” he continued. “Texas has a long history of voter discrimination. This ruling is a step in the right direction to ensure that all Texas voters have an equal voice at the ballot box.”.

Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe said: “We are greatly encouraged by today’s decision. This decision vindicates what African American and Latino leaders have been saying since this law was first proposed, that it discriminates against minority voters and was designed to do just that.

"This is great news for democracy. I call on Attorney General Greg Abbott to drop his defense of a law that a court has now called a 'poll tax' and 'discriminatory' against African-Americans and Hispanics."  said State Sen. and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston: "Texas has a long and sad history of making it difficult for people to vote. Elected officials repeatedly used the law to keep people out of the voting booth. Decades later, history rightly judges those men and women in a harsh light. As the court ruled, the voter ID law is essentially a modern day poll tax and has the same effect as other laws used in decades past to keep scores of lawful, legal Americans from voting. It was wrong then, it is wrong now, and I'm pleased the court stood up to protect the right to vote for all Texans."

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio: “This ruling is a major victory for our caucus, voting rights advocates across the country, and most importantly, for Texas voters and the fight for free and fair elections in our state. Since last summer's Supreme Court decision, Shelby County v. Holder, struck down the preclearance formula of the Voting Rights Act, we have seen a wave of voter suppression legislation aimed to curb minority voting strength in states across the country.

"We are extremely heartened by the court's decision, which affirms our position that the Texas voter identification law unfairly and unnecessarily restricts access to the franchise,"  US Atty Gen Eric Holder said in a statement released Thursday night. "Even after the Voting Rights Act was seriously eroded last year, we vowed to continue enforcing the remaining portions of that statute as aggressively as possible. This ruling is an important vindication of those efforts."

Let's just hope SB 14 stays dead, at least through November 4

President Obama's NAN Convention Speech

President Obama spoke at the 2014 National Action Network Convention in New York on Friday in which he called out the GOP on the voter suppression BS and a few other subjects..

You Democrats, how about you follow the POTUS' lead and do the same from now on until November 4 and beyond?  

MHP Breaks It Down To John Cornyn Why The VRA Is Needed

Many of you probably noted I gave Sen. John Cornyn  (R-TX) an honorable mention for last week's Shut Up Fool Award.   He is against the bipartisan reauthorization legislation for the Voting Right Act because his vanillacentric privileged behind actually parted his lips to say that Texas was being 'discriminated against'.

In today's Melissa Harris-Perry show, in her letter's segment she whacked him with Texas' long reprehensible history of suppressing the voting rights of non-white Texans

And can't wait to vote his behind out of office.

It's Election Day 2013-Handle Your Electoral Business

It's Election Day in many parts of the country including the Houston area.

Unfortunately I won't be able to participate in today's Houston's city election due to unforeseen complications in getting my TDL combined with the Texas Voter ID Suppression law, but for those of you in the community who can, I urge you to do so. 

And yeah, I'm not only highly pissed off about that revolting development, Republican Party, that pissivity about my electoral voice being silenced for this election cycle guarantees I will be a living embodiment of my personal motto next November.  

What is that personal motto you ask?   Don't get mad at GOP led oppression, do something about it.  

You can bet I'll be the first person in line October 2014 when early voting starts for the midterms next year.  I will be doing my part to turn this state, the governor's mansion, the Texas legislature and the US House blue and keep it that way. 

But back to focusing on Election Day 2013.   

In addition to the Houston mayoral  race in which Annise Parker will be attempting to be reelected to her third and final term as our city's mayor, we have city council elections on the ballot and bond issues on the ballot including whether to spend the money to refurbish and repurpose the nearly half century old Astrodome.

We also have Jenifer Rene Pool attempting to make Houston, Texas and national history by making her second attempt to become the first out transperson elected to public office here in the Houston City Council at Large Position 3 city council race.     

The polls are open, so handle your electoral business if you have the ability to do so.  Because I can tell you from painful personal experience that nothing is more frustrating than wanting to exercise your constitutional right to vote and you can't because of a bull feces laden and racist conservalaw.

Judge Posner, Too Bad You Didn't Recognize Voter ID=Voter Suppression In 2007

“Let’s not beat around the bush: The Indiana voter photo ID law is a not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to discourage election-day turnout by certain folks believed to skew Democratic.”
--Judge Terence T. Evans,  Dissenting opinion, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board case

The landmark Crawford v. Marion County Election Board case in 2007 that was subsequently upheld a year later by the SCOTUS unleashed a new way for the GOP to engage in their Southern Strategy tactics of suppressing the voting rights of non-white Americans.

As we in Texas started the first election cycle in which that Spawn of Conservasatan Voter Suppression law is impacting us no thanks to the SCOTUS frakking with Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, we have the bitter irony of the US Seventh Circuit court judge who wrote the opinion in favor of it, Judge Richard A Posner, now saying he was wrong in that case. 

Posner was appointed to the Seventh District Court of Appeals in 1981 by President Reagan and is a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.  In his 40th book, “Reflections on Judging,” Judge Posner said, “I plead guilty to having written the majority opinion” in the case. He noted that the Indiana law in the Crawford case is “a type of law now widely regarded as a means of voter suppression rather than of fraud prevention.” .

Gee, any person of color who is or isn't an attorney could have told you that. Judge Evans tried to tell you that in 2007.



Thanks Judge Posner for admitting you were wrong in that case, but it's too little and way too damned late.

Judge Evans (who passed away in 2011) isn't around to hear you say it, and your 'you were wrong' admission on video and in print is of little comfort to those of us living in GOP controlled areas of the country who have to deal with the repercussions of these Voter ID laws you and Judge Sykes' opinion in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board helped unleash on the rest of the nation.

        

Voting Rights Act Messed With By Roberts KKKourt

I'm still too pissed off about this to even write about what happened to the Voting Rights Act right now after a busy, roller coaster emotion filled news day yesterday and prepping for a road trip to Denver for a family reunion.

This cartoon pretty much expresses how I feel about the VRA and Uncle Ruckus, er Thomas making the unjust ruling happen.

Rep. Alan Grayson-Expand The Voting Rights Act

I'm so happy Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is going to be back in Congress.   We have definitely missed his tell it like it T-I-S is voice inside I-495.  Welcome back, and this time hope you gt to stick around for a while.

In this video he talks about expanding the Voting Rights Act beyond just the South in light of the voting suppression shenanigans the GOP tried to execute there and elsewhere.in the country.

Political Revenge Is Best Served At The Voting Booth

In just a few hours early voting will commence in the Lone Star State and I'll be doing so with a chip on my shoulder because I've been impatiently waiting for this day.
 
Am I angry about the Republican dominated Texas legislature passing a voter suppression law during the 2011 session designed to keep me and other non-white Texans from voting?   You damned skippy I am.   

Am I going to take it out on them at the voting booth?   What do you think conservafools?  . 

I like firing people with (R) behind their names in the voting booth that try to oppress me. Y'all gave me plenty of incentive to do so in the 2012 election cycle when the Lone Star State early voting polls open at 7 AM CDT. 

Thanks to the US Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder that law has been spiked due to Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.   All I'll have to do is show my yellow voter registration card, sign next to my name on the voter roll and handle my electoral business.

And I will be highly motivated to serve up some political revenge in the voting booth.

I was going to do my part to ensure that President Obama got reelected to a second term anyway and help more Democrats get elected to public office in Texas.  Your naked, racist attempts to suppress my vote ensured I had this October date on the calendar circled.

So people, if you're upset like I am about what the GOP has done in the runup to this November 6 election day, do what I'm doing.  Get mad, then take out your righteous anger out on the conservafools at the ballot box.

Political revenge is best served at the voting booth, and I'm going to enjoy watching it play out all the way to November 6.

Countdown To Texas Early Voting

October 22 can't get here fast enough for me. 

I've already made up my mind who I'm voting for.  All I'm impatiently waiting for is the opportunity to cast my ballot and I'm highly motivated to do so.

On that date I'm making a beeline for the nearest early voting center to the crib.  If any True the Vote peeps are at my particular early voting center when I arrive, warning you vanillacentric privileged oppressors now to stay the hell out of my way.

Once I get to the check in table all I will need to do thanks to Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to cast my ballot is show the poll worker my yellow Texas voter registration card.   They will hand me my numbered slip after I sign the voter roll next to my name.  I'll take it, head to the nearest open electronic voting machine, punch in the code on that slip, grin, laugh and will commence to gleefully start firing Republicans for being arrogant enough to try to keep me from voting.

Yeah Texas GOP, I took it personally when you tried to pass that jacked up voter suppression law during the 2011 legislative session.

When you conservafools did that, I circled the date on the calendar for when I'd be able to pay you back for trying to frack with my ability to vote in my home state. .. 

So what if my vote isn't going to swing Texas to President Obama?   It's still needed for congressional races, state house and state senate races, the state board of education races, other state offices and judicial races. 

My vote is also required to decide the bond elections we're having here in H-town for HISD and Houston Community College, Harris County government races and Texas constitutional amendments.

I'm fired up, ready to vote, and ready to move this country, my state, and my county forward..  The Houston city elections happen next year when Mayor Annise Parker tries for her third and final two year term. 

Electoral revenge is a dish best served up cold in the voting booth and I can't wait until Monday..  . 

Mississippi Tea Klux Klan Head Says Women Shouldn't Vote

As if I needed any more stuff to add to the Mount Everest sized pile of evidence that irrefutably points out there are major differences between the two parties, this Tea Klux Klan member just gave me another one.

Central Mississippi Tea Party president Janis Lane was part of a Jackson Free Press interview RL Nave conducted with her and two other with Tea Klux Klan members.   It was already bad enough until this Phyllis Schafly wannabe dropped this gem in the tail end of it.

Lane: I'm really going to set you back here. Probably the biggest turn we ever made was when the women got the right to vote.

What do you mean?

Lane: Our country might have been better off if it was still just men voting. There is nothing worse than a bunch of mean, hateful women. They are diabolical in how than can skewer a person. I do not see that in men. The whole time I worked, I'd much rather have a male boss than a female boss. Double-minded, you never can trust them.

Because women have the right to vote, I am active, because I want to make sure there is some sanity for women in the political world. It is up to the Christian rednecks and patriots to stand up for our country.

Everyone has the right to vote now that's 18 or over (who is) a legal citizen, and every person that's 18 and over and a legal citizen should be active in local politics so they can make a change locally, make a change on the state level and make a change in Washington, D.C.

God bless America.

Really?   You believe men aren't capable of being diabolical and in your words 'skewering a person'?  What planet do you live on?   Yeah, and I caught the dog whistle to the 'Christian rednecks and patriots.'

Thanks to the 19th Amendment and women voting some sanity reigns in our government  

While we all have the right to vote, and Teapublicans who share her jacked up views aren't suppressing it for non-whites, time we exercise it on November 6 or whenever early voting starts in your locale to ensure that these people don't see another nanosecond in power.

 

Why I'm On Your Behinds To Vote

Today is the last day in CO, FL, OH, NM, PA and Texas that you can register to vote for the upcoming 2012 presidential election cycle. 

You regular readers have probably noticed I've been frequently posting news and updates about unjust voter suppression laws being overturned by the courts, impending registration deadlines and who to call and how to report it if the True the Vote Teapublican azzholes try to commit a felony and intimidate you from casting your ballot.

I'm also writing posts about what's at stake in this November 6 election.  I will continue to frequently do so until the day after it happens.

If you're asking why I'm on your behinds to vote, I'm about to tell you.

African-American men got the right to vote via the 15th Amendment to the Constitution in 1870 and African-American women via the 19th Amendment in 1920.   While we African-Americans on paper had the Constitution backing up our right to vote, in reality grandfather clauses, literacy tests and poll takes effectively shut us out of the electoral process until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The first election I eagerly got to participate in was the 1980 presidential one between President Carter and Ronald Reagan.  My first Houston mayoral race in 1981 was the historic one in which I got to cast a vote for our first female mayor in Kathy Whitmire.  I stood in line in the rain in 1983 to participate in my first Texas gubernatorial one in which I helped to vote Mark White into the governors mansion and kick Republican Bill Clements out and in 1990 when I proudly cast my ballot for Ann Richards in 1990.

And I remember the pride I felt when I was able in 1997 to elect Houston's first African-American mayor in Lee P. Brown and four years ago when I cast my ballot for President Obama. 

But I'm on your behinds to vote because it's your way to own your power and help determine the people who will be entrusted with the power to govern us at our various government levels.

I'm on your behinds to vote because people like President Lyndon B Johnson used his political capital to get the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed

I'm on your behinds to vote because too many people like Rep John Lewis (D-GA) fought, shed blood, took beatdowns and in some cases died for you to take your butt to your nearby polling place and take a few moments out of your day to cast a ballot  in each and every election.


And yes, from time to time you get the opportunity to help make history in the process.

Your vote is your voice in this political system.  All the marches, Occupy whatever events, blog posts and seminars will not change the system if you have a problem with the way we are governed.   Taking your behind to a polling place and actually casting a ballot for candidates running for office will. 

The first step to that is making sure you're registered so you can do so, and then participating in each and every election cycle, not just presidential ones..

So if you aren't registered, get busy doing so.
    

Voting While Trans

One of the highlights of the 2000 presidential election cycle for me despite the jacked up way it turned out was it was the first time I got to cast a ballot in any election cycle as Moni.

I transitioned in 1994 but it took me a few years to get the name changed on much of my paper trail    I was so proud and pleased to show my voter registration card to the poll worker and cast my early ballot in that Gore-GW Bush presidential race.after standing in line for over an hour at the Bayland Park early voting site on that clear October fall afternoon

It was to me another evolutionary leap toward becoming the Phenomenal Transwoman I am today.

It's now 12 years later and we are facing another critical presidential election about to take place in less than 36 days.  But the Republican sponsored voter suppression laws designed to reduced the numbers of non white Americans, seniors and students voting in this cycle also may affect up to 25,000 transpeople as well


   
Daniel Williams of Equality Texas has advised me that reports are coming in to him from some Texas trans residents with trans histories of them receiving voter registration cards with their old names or not reflecting the persons they are now.

In case you're wondering, yes our Texas Secretary of State is a Republican named Hope Andrade

If your voter registration card is incorrect, you may wish to let Daniel and Equality Texas know about that situation while we have time to correct it. 

The reprehensible True The Vote suppression org is headquartered here and I'm prepared to not give those Tea Klux Klan members a warm welcome to my neighborhood if they dare show up at my early voting polling place trying to keep me from exercising my constitutional right to vote.   I have less than pleasant memories of what happened the last time white GOP poll watchers showed up at a precinct where I was voting in 1984 and tried to keep me from doing so.

But back to voting while trans.  Transpeople, I hope you'll be running to the polls to have the back of a president who has definitely had ours during his administration.

But please make sure you not only vote on November 6 or whenever early voting starts in your locale, but you have done everything possible to ensure you can cast your ballot without drama.

TransGriot Update:  You can get in contact with Daniel Williams via his Equality Texas e-mail address danielwilliams@equalitytexas.org  to report those Texas voter ID card issues.

Time Running Out To Register For 2012 Election

If you're not registered to vote in this upcoming critical national election, better get busy because the deadlines to do so in many areas happen this week.   For my Texas TransGriot readers you have until October 9 to do so.   You can also bumrush the polls starting October 22 in Texas secure in the knowledge that all you'll need to present at the polls to do so is your yellow Texas voter registration card.

The Texas Voter ID suppression law has been spiked thanks to federal judges and Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  

And naw Texas (and national) Rethuglican party, haven't forgotten which party stood up to defend my right to vote and which one is hellbent on keep me from doing so and will be voting accordingly..

Political revenge is best served up in the ballot box on Election Day.


I'll even make it easy for you by just clicking on this link that will take you to the NAACP's This Is My Vote website or you can call 1-866-MyVote1  

You can also call that number to report any voter suppression shenanigans of the predominately white True The Vote 'poll watching' thugs behaving badly in our non white precincts. 

So get busy and get registered.  October 22 will be here before you know it (or whenever early voting starts in your locale) so you can handle your civic business and choose your leaders for the next two to four years at all levels of government and have you say on some important ballot questions, bond issues and constitutional amendments

Today Is National Voter Registration Day!

In 2008 65% of African-Americans that were eligible to vote in that 2008 election cycle exercised that right to do so. But sadly there were 6 million eligible American voters who didn't participate in that election because they either missed a registration deadline or they didn't know how or where to register so they could participate in that election. . 

It's four years later and there are approximately 46 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 are eligible to vote. But threats of apathy, and voter ID suppression laws are threatening to cut into those numbers at the polls in 2012.


To combat the problem, a large coalition of 1100 organizations that includes Voto Latino, the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Urban League, LULAC and the League of Women Voters  have joined forces on this day to conduct a nationwide voter registration effort in advance of this critical 2012 presidential election cycle. 

The NAACP has had a similar effort underway for months now, but this coalition effort kicking off today will have volunteers, celebrities and various organizations hitting the streets to reach out to potential voters.

The National Urban League has sent out this PSA emphasizing the need for young people to as I paraphrase NBJC President/CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks favorite catchphrases, recognizing and owning our power.at the ballot box.



This National Voter Registration Day of coordinated field, technology and media efforts is designed to create awareness of voter registration opportunities, reach tens of thousands of voters that may not have been reached via other methods and get them registered in time for this critical election.  

We even had registration efforts happening during the just completed 2012 edition of OUT on the Hill  

So if you see some of those events while you're out and about today, now you'll know why.  If you're not registered, please take the time to do so.

TransGriot Update:  Here's the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Voter's Rights Toolkit you can download and share the info with everyone you know in your influence circles. 

Texas GOP, It's Payback Time In One Month

While I'm beginning another day of Owning My Power during this thrid edition of OUT on the Hill, my mind still is thinking about events back home and the significance of what happens thirty days from today's date.

What's happening in thirty days?   Glad you asked inquisitive TransGriot reader.

October 22 is the first day we Texans get to cast early voting ballots in this 2012 presidential election cycle and for you peeps who wish to join me, here's the info to get the election party started. . 

The Texas Republican Party not only worked hard to suppress mine and the votes of millions of non-white Texans, seniors, and Texas college students, they also pushed a 2012 party platform that has amongst its odious planks a call for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 


I know which party values my vote and stood up for my constitutional right to cast it and which one did everything possible (and is still actively working) to suppress it, and I'll be voting accordingly on that date.

Thanks to the efforts of US Attorney General Eric Holder, a long list of allies and Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act law you conservafools claim is no longer necessary (yeah, right) all I'll need when I show up to vote on October 22 at one of those Harris County early voting polling centers is my yellow Texas voter registration card.

So yes, I already know what is on my agenda on that date, and it ain't voting for Mitt Romney or anyone with an 'R' behind their name.