Events - Month View

Polls are open noon - 6pm

Polls are open 7am - 7pm

Polls are open 7am - 7pm

#OnThisDay in 1954, the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) extended constitutional rights to Mexican Americans in the landmark civil rights case Hernandez v. Texas.

Learn more: https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/hernandez-v-texas-spotlight-050115

GOTV at the Duncanville Public Library. Encourage voters to check their voter registration status as registered voters get canceled from the rolls every year.

GOTV at Dallas College Mountain View Campus

Get out the vote at Dallas College Richland Campus

GOTV at Dallas College El Centro Campus.

Get Out The Vote at Dallas College Cedar Valley Campus

We’re partnering with the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum for their 2022 Crucial Conversations on challenging AAPI hatred. In the first session of this series, they will focus on the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the United States, including the journeys of immigrants and refugees from different regions of Asia, anti-AAPI legislation, and challenges faced and overcome by AAPI communities.

Get Out The Vote and register voters at Dallas College Brookhaven Campus. Costumes optional.

#OnThisDay in 1882 Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The 1882 Act was the first US history to place broad restrictions on immigration.

Timeline:

1882 - Arthur signs Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Prevents Chinese nationals from eligibility for US citizenship (scheduled to last 10 yrs)

1892 - Harrison signs the Geary Act
Renews Chinese Exclusion act of 1882 (extends for 10 additional years and in 1902 indefinitely extended)

1943 - Roosevelt signs the Magnuson Act
Repeals the Chinese Exclusion Act leaving a yearly limit of 105 Chinese and gives foreign-born Chinese the right to seek naturalization

1965 - Johnson signs Hart-Celler Act
Eliminates policy of limiting immigration based on national origin

Resources:

National Archive Chinese Americans: https://www.archives.gov/research/chinese-americans/guide

Chinese Exclusion History: https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/APA/Historical-Essays/Exclusion-and-Empire/First-Arrivals/

Chinese Exclusion Act: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/chinese-immigration

Congress‘ Apology for Chinese Exclusion: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2012-06-18/html/CREC-2012-06-18-pt1-PgH3715-2.htm

Video: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/chinese-exclusion-act/

#OnThisDay, Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1960, which served to eliminate loopholes left by the CRA of 1957. It established federal inspection of voter-registration polls and addressed discriminatory laws and practices in the segregated South that disenfranchised blacks and Hispanics. #CivilRights #VotingRights


Timeline:

-- 1866 Johnson vetos CRA of 1866, but veto is overridden by Congress (define citizenship and guaranteed citizens equal protection)
-- 1875 Grant signs CRA of 1875 (guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited their exclusion from jury service)
-- 1883 SCOTUS rules 7-1 that CRA of 1875 is unconstitutional
-- 1957 Eisenhower signs CRA of 1957 (forms the Civil Rights Commission)
-- 1960 Eisenhower signs CRA of 1960 (guaranteed qualified voters the right to register to vote
-- 1964 Johnson signs CRA of 1964 (prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and employment)
-- 1968 Johnson signs CRA of 1968 (guaranteed equal housing opportunities)
-- 1991 Bush signs the CRA of 1991 (expanded the rights of women and disabled persons)

Resources:
--Civil Rights Digital Library: http://crdl.usg.edu/collections/eisenhowercivilrightsfiles

--Eisenhower Library: https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/research/subject-guides/pdf/civil-rights-guide-to-studies.pdf

-- Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/legal-events-timeline.html

Last Day to Vote - Polls open from 7:00am until 7:00pm. Last day to submit completed Absentee Ballot by Mail.

Saturday (May 7) at 3:00pm, a public hearing will be conducted, at City Hall at 1500 Marilla St, to give citizens an opportunity to speak out about the two maps and any changes resulting from the May 2nd amendment workshop. Register to speak by 10:00am the day of the meeting at bit.ly/2021RDCTH.
(We do not recommend virtual because the city hall video connection rarely works and video is required in order to speak). To read the maps click on https://dallasredistricting.com/redistricting-submissions/. Click on Data Layers, Show numbering for printed districts, then Current Boundaries. Scroll and keep scrolling and the street names and places will eventually appear. Depress your left click to move the map around. Click on Evaluation, Population by Race and Voting Age Population by Race. For more detailed data, return to the Redistricting Submissions page, the map, and click on pdf.

May 9 at 3:30pm, the Redistricting Commission will hold a second map amendment workshop, followed by a vote on its final selection of the map (map COD-041 or COD-017) it will recommend to City Council. The meeting will be at City Hall at 1500 Marilla St. Public speakers are welcome. Register to speak by 10:00am the day of the meeting at bit.ly/2021RDCTH. (We do not recommend virtual speaking because the city hall video connection rarely works and video is required in order to speak). To read the maps click on https://dallasredistricting.com/redistricting-submissions/. Click on Data Layers, Show numbering for printed districts, then Current Boundaries. Scroll and keep scrolling and the street names and places will eventually appear. Depress your left click to move the map around. Click on Evaluation, Population by Race and Voting Age Population by Race. For more detailed data, return to the Redistricting Submissions page, the map, and click on pdf.
TENTATIVE: May 10 9:30am - 4:00pm, the commission will hold a third map amendment workshop if necessary and then vote on its final preferred map.

#OnThisDay, the Texas Equal Rights Association (TERA), the first statewide female suffrage organization, was founded in the Grand Windsor in Dallas on May 10, 1893. The TERA was committed to securing voting and political rights for women on the same terms as men, including the right to hold political office and serve on juries.

Learn more: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit02
#EqualRights #CivilRights #VotingRights

Last day for eligible voters to submit an Application for Ballot by Mail for the upcoming election. Only voters who will be either 65 years or older on Election Day, out-of-town, in jail, or sick/disabled during the Early Voting period and Election Day may submit an application.

15 May 1869: New York City. NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association. The National Association was created in response to a split in the American Equal Rights Association over whether the woman‘s movement should support the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Its founders, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, opposed the Fifteenth Amendment unless it included women‘s right to vote. Men were able to join the organization as members; however, women solely controlled the leadership of the group. The NWSA worked to secure women‘s enfranchisement through a federal constitutional amendment.

Polls are open 7am - 7pm

Educate voters at a Somos Tejas Pop Up event at Samuell Grand Rec Center

Polls are open 7am - 7pm

#OnThisDay in 1954, the Supreme Court of the US ruled in a unanimous decision that school segregation violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th Amendment.
Brown v. Board of Education was a consolidation of five cases. The ruling effectively ending racial segregation in public schools. Many schools, however, remained segregated.
Learn more:

-- Civil Rights Digital Library: http://crdl.usg.edu/events/brown_vs_boe

-- US Courts: https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment

-- Library of Congress https://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep347/usrep347483/usrep347483.pdf

-- Video: https://www.loc.gov/item/mbrs01856600/

-- Image: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-brown.html

Get Out The Vote at the DeSoto Public Library. Encourage voters to check their voter registration status as registered voters get canceled from the rolls every year.

Polls are open 7am - 7pm

#OnThisDay in 1896, the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) ruled 7-1 that segregation was legal and constitutional as long as "facilities were equal"—the famous "separate but equal" segregation policy.

The Plessy v. Ferguson decision provided legal justification for segregation until it was overruled by Brown v. the Board of Education in 1954.

Resources:
Library of Congress: Plessy v. Ferguson: https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/plessy.html
Library of Congress: Brown v. Board of Education: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-brown.html

1919 19 May: The House of Representatives passed the 19th Amendment. Opponents blocked action in the Senate for another two weeks, delaying ratification by ensuring that most state legislatures had adjourned for the year

Polls are open 7am - 7pm

Polls are open 7am - 7pm

#OnThisDay in 1993 Clinton signed the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (also referred to as the Motor Voter Act). The bill advanced voting rights, including (but not limited to) requiring states to offer voter registration opportunities to eligible persons during driver’s license renewal.

Timeline:

1990 - LWV convenes a symposium to examine the role of negative campaigning in the decline in voter participation. The symposium leads to a comprehensive effort to return the voter to the center of the election process. LWV works with a coalition of partners to support legislation reforming voter registration.

1992 - Congress passes the NVRA of 1992

1992 - Bush vetoes the bill

1992 - Congress fails to override the veto

1993 - Congress passes the NVRA of 1993

1993 - Clinton signs the bill into law

Resources:

-- LWV 2018-2020 Impact report: https://www.lwv.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/LWV%202018-20%20Impact%20on%20Issues.pdf#page=15

-- LWV Celebrates NVRA 27 Anniversary: https://www.lwv.org/blog/honoring-27th-anniversary-national-voter-registration-act

-- Bush‘s comments regarding NVRA of 1992: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/message-the-senate-returning-without-approval-the-national-voter-registration-act-1992

-- Clinton‘s comment regarding NVRA of 1993: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-signing-the-national-voter-registration-act-1993

-- US Justice Department: https://www.justice.gov/crt/about-national-voter-registration-act

Educate voters at a Somos Tejas Pop Up event at Samuell Grand Rec Center

Last Day to Vote. Polls open from 7:00am until 7:00pm. Last day to submit completed Absentee Ballot by Mail.

24 May 1919: The law granting Texas women the right to vote in the primaries proved to be so successful that the Texas Legislature, in regular session, passed a bill to amend the Texas constitution to give women the right to vote in all elections. The public vote on May 24, 1919, failed to ratify this amendment. Although this measure failed, the legislature ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution five weeks after the May election, giving women the right to vote.

On May 24, Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924 (also referred to as the Johnson-Reed Act), which implemented a national quota system that limited the number of immigrants allowed into the US, and it excluded immigrants from Asia.


Timeline:

1924 - Coolidge signs Johnson-Reed Act
Prevents immigration from Asia and establishes a quotas system

1952 - Truman vetoes McCarran-Walter Act (veto overridden by Congress)
Eliminates Asian exclusion and establishes a preference system for desirable ethnic groups

1965 - Johnson signs Hart-Celler Act
Eliminates policy of limiting immigration based on national origin


Note: See https://immigrationhistory.org/timeline for a description of immigration laws before 1924


Resources:

Johnson-Reed Act: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act

McCarran-Walter Act: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act

Hart-Celler Act: https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Immigration-and-Nationality-Act-of-1965

Coolidge’s Comments regarding Immigration: https://www.coolidgefoundation.org/blog/were-all-in-the-same-boat-now-coolidge-on-immigration

Truman’s Veto Comments: https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/public/Immigration_TrumanVeto.pdf

Johnson’s INA Signing Comments:http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/timeline/lbj-on-immigration


Images:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gQD4VFtai7I0K47-d3F58Ffp9wn0fNzh

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bfzS8eAMFA89LTE_gU3VkTZyxH5qV9Y1

Learn about the American Community Survey from a U.S. Census Bureau expert! Information about our county residents that we can use to inform our voters services work.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is undergoing Sunset Review at the state legislature now through 2023.
After decades of not meeting federal air standards, the DFW area faces being bumped up from “serious” to “severe” for air quality by the EPA.

Join LWV Dallas and Rita Beving of Public Citizen to learn about Sunset Review and how you can make a difference for North Texas.

Three members of the Dallas Redistricting Commission are members of LWVD. They will share with us their experience on the commission, and, most importantly, their ideas for how to improve the process.