VOTER NEWSLETTER
Vol. 66, No. 3 October 2026 Editor: Virginia Marsh
| | Inside This Issue
- Complete Information about the Nov 3 Election
- Forum for TX HD102
- Forum for TX HD112 Canceled
- DPS Voter Registration Glitch
- Voter Registration Activities
- Voters Guide Distribution
- Election Integrity in Dallas County
- October 17 Social Event
- LWVR is Reviewing All Its Positions
- Results of North Texas Giving Day
- CHIP and Children's Medicaid Health Fair
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Key Dates in October 2026
- Oct 5 Last Day to Register to Vote
- Oct 6 VOTE411.org (online) is available
- Oct 8 Forum for TX HD 102
- Oct 8 Forum for TX HD 112 Cancelled
- about Oct 10 printed Voters Guides will be available
- Oct 17 CHIP Registration Help
- Oct 19 First day of Early Voting
- Oct 21 Social Event at Sonny Bryan's
- Oct 22 Review of our Local Planning Positions
- Oct 23 Last day to submit an application for ballot by mail (received, not postmarked)
- Oct 30 Last day of Early Voting
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Complete Information about the November 3rd Election
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For complete, nonpartisan, factual information about the November 3, 2026 Election in Dallas County and Collin County, visit LWVRichardson's website.
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Come and meet the candidates!
LWVRichardson is holding a nonpartisan forum for candidates for Texas House Distict 102 (listed in ballot order):
- Bonnie Abadie (Republican)
- Ana-Maria Ramos (Democrat, incumbent)
Thursday, October 8
6:30 p.m.
Richardson ISD Administration Building Auditorium
400 S Greenville Avenue
Richardson 75081
| | | | The Voter Service Team invites all our members and other community members to submit potential questions for the candidates online to forums@lwvrichardson.org. Questions submitted by email prior to the forum will be given the same consideration as questions submitted at the forum. |
Forum for TX HD112 - Canceled
Incumbent Angie Chen Button
Declines To Participate
| The League of Women Voters of Richardson (LWVR) planned to sponsor a nonpartisan forum on Thursday, October 8, for candidates running for Texas House District (HD) 112 in the November 3rd election.
Unfortunately, the Republican incumbent, Representative Angie Chen Button, declined to participate. Her Democratic challenger, Zach Herbert, agreed to participate.
The League’s long-standing policy states that at least two candidates for an office must agree to participate to hold a forum. If Representative Button does not participate, the League has no option but to cancel the forum.
The League seeks to educate the community and expects candidates to participate in nonpartisan public forums. By declining to participate, Representative Button denies the community an opportunity to learn about her and her position on current issues.
We strongly urge Representative Button to reconsider her decision not to appear. |
DPS Voter Registration Glitch
Help Spread the Word
| Texas election officials recently discovered that the Department of Public Safety (DPS) failed to send an unknown number of voter registration updates, submitted through its online driver's license portal, to county voter registrars. Counties are now receiving a surge of backlogged applications less than two weeks before the Oct. 5th registration deadline, on top of an already busy election season. (Read the Texas Tribune article about this issue.)
Have I been affected by this?
You are likely NOT affected by this glitch if:
- you've voted or received a voter registration certificate in the last six months, or
- you have not moved in the past year.
What should you do if you ARE affected by this?
If you updated your driver's license through the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) online system and asked to update your voter registration, check your status online on your County Elections Department's website. Your status should be ACTIVE. If not, contact your County Elections Department to get your status updated.
If you registered through DPS online by the Oct. 5th deadline but aren't on the rolls when you vote, you can still cast a provisional ballot. According to the Secretary of State's office, officials will verify the DPS transaction and count the ballot.
Fill out this form if you were affected by the glitch. The League of Women Voters of Texas is collecting this data to share examples of situations with the Texas Secretary of State's office and Department of Public Safety. No names will be shared. LWVTexas may follow up with you for more details and assistance in taking next steps.
Beware!
Some organizations are posting that they will help you register to vote, check your registration, request an absentee ballot, find voting deadlines, and sign you up for election reminders. However, some of these posts are paid by political PACs (Political Action Committees) and may be an attempt to obtain your personal information. LWVR recommends that voters only use official government websites to check registrations, such as the Dallas County Elections Department or the Collin County Elections Department.
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Voter Registration Activities
| October 5th is the deadline to register to vote in the November 3rd Election.
Voter Registration in Richardson
These last several weeks have been busy for the voter registration volunteers. We have been to daytime events, evening events, events during the week and on weekends. We have been invited to schools, city and government sponsored locations and events, corporate employee events, outdoor markets, and other community locations. At all these efforts, we not only registered voters but also helped voters check and update their voting status as well as provide valuable nonpartisan information about voting in the upcoming elections.
Recent information about the backlog of Texas DPS information not being transmitted to County Election Departments in a timely manner was not surprising as we have heard for months from people who thought they registered when they updated their license, but the Secretary of State website did not list them as registered and active. Our registration volunteers have helped voters update their information when needed.
If you have questions and/or are interested in joining the voter registration team, please email Janet Centola at
County-wide Voter Registration
As part of our county-wide collaboration:
- Richardson League members frequently help with voter registration efforts at Richland College, since it is within Richardson ISD.
- During Early Voting in October, that effort will focus more on voter information, since most students will be first time voters.
- Also, Dallas County Elections is significantly increasing voter registration opportunities at County tax offices, including all business days leading up to the October 5 registration deadline.
- Finally, we are volunteering with Dallas County to register new citizens following naturalization events at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services North Texas Field Office in Irving.
If you are interested in any of the above opportunities, please contact
Cathy Murphree at campusvoterreg@lwvrichardson.org.
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Voters Guide Distribution
for the November 3rd Election
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The City of Richardson no longer allows LWVRichardson to distribute our nonpartisan Voters Guide at any City facility or function.
The printed Voters Guides should be available about October 10. Many thanks to the following businesses and churches for distributing our nonpartisan Voters Guides for the November 3rd Election:
- Richardson Family YMCA (821 Custer Road, Richardson 75080)
- Tongue in Cheek Ice Cream (526 W Arapaho, Richardson, TX 75080)
- Beyond the Bar (101 S Sherman, Richardson 75081) Voter Registration, October 4, 2pm-4pm
- Boho Market (CityLine Plaza, 1251 State Street, Richardson 75082) on October 9, 6pm-10pm
- Glow Nail Spa (3443 W Campbell Road #600, Garland 75044: Northeast corner of Jupter and Campbell Roads)
- St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church (1220 West Belt Line Road, Richardson 75080)
- Arapaho United Methodist Church (1400 W Arapaho Road, Richardson 75080)
- Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration (14115 Hillcrest Road, Dallas 75254)
- First United Methodist Church of Richardson (503 N Central Expressway, Richardson 75080)
- Hamilton Park United Methodist Church (11881 Schroeder Road, Dallas 75243)
- Episcopal Church of the Ascension (8787 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75243)
- LWVRichardson office (300 North Coit Road, Suite 125, Richardson 75080); About one week before Early Voting starts, our nonpartisan Voters Guides will be in a holder on the outside of the door . Please take one! (The office will not be staffed.)
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Election Integrity in Dallas County
| | On National Voter Registration Day, Tuesday, September 15th, LWVR hosted the Dallas County Elections Department for a Mid-Day Conversation about Election Integrity. Our speaker, Casey Ouellette, Operations Manager, spoke about the training and operations of the department, process of registration in the field, voting, and the security of votes in Dallas County. He even announced an additional voting location for Richardson this year:
Richardson ISD's Arzell Ball Center
410 S Greenville Avenue | | | Mr. Ouellette's talk was informative and helpful and can be viewed on our website or on YouTube.
LWVR also invited Kaleb Breaux, Collin County Elections Department Administrator, but he declined. |
Join us for Our October Social Event
First-Ever Games Night
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All members, prospective members, and friends of the League of Women Voters of Richardson are invited to our October social. It will be at Sonny Bryan's (on Campbell Road; between Coit & Waterview). This will also be our first-ever Games Night..
Wednesday, October 21
6:30 p.m.- Dinner
7:15pm (approx) - Games Night
Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse
Richardson, TX 75080
A good time will be had by all. See you there!
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LWVR Is Reviewing All Its Local Positions
Next Zoom meeting: Thursday,October 22
| LWVR's Local Program Planning meeting was held on February 11. It was determined that, although there is no need to change our positions, we should review their language and consider revisions that would broaden their application. Our positions may be found here.
All our local positions have already been reviewed. The schedule to review the updated positions via Zoom is:
Proposed changes for all the positions will be posted on LWVRichardson's website a week before the meeting.
Although only LWVR members can vote to make changes to a position, we invite the larger community to attend a meeting to give input. We welcome your insight in proposing updated language for our positions. |
Results of North Texas Giving Day
| | We are filled with gratitude to everyone who supported LWVRichardson on North Texas Giving Day (NTGD) 2026. A total of $1,850 was donated. Our donations through NTGD are growing each year.
Because of you, we are able to support our efforts to provide nonpartisan, accurate election information to voters by
- sponsoring candidate forums,
- providing nonpartisan electronic (VOTE411.org) and printed Voters Guides,
- conducting voter registration drives, and
- producing a local Guide to Elected Officials.
| | | It's never too late to donate to LWVRichardson to show your support of all the nonpartisan work that we do! | CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) and Children’s Medicaid have been well received by Texas families and these programs help to assure that our children have adequate preventative care in addition to coverage for more complex medical care. It is much more cost effective to provide immunizations, check-ups, and early intervention in childhood illnesses than to wait for a problem to develop into an emergency.
Our next opportunity to help will be during the Health Fair
October 17, 2026
9am to noon
Richardson, 75080.
As usual, Texas leads the nation in the number of uninsured children.
Families who do not have coverage through their employment such as seasonal workers, employees who work part-time, grandparents who are raising their grandchildren on a fixed income, those who are currently unemployed, and teenagers who are “on their own” are some who might have eligible children. Please invite anyone you think may benefit to attend on October 17.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health policy research, polling, and news organization, starting on October 1, 2026, there will be new eligibility restrictions for CHIP and Medicaid for some lawfully present immigrants. Even those still eligible may experience procedural disenrollments or coverage disruption. We anticipate an increase in requests for help and some confusion.
Thank you for your support and help. Federal funding for health care and for the non-profits that assist families that are challenged to afford health care has decreased. Anything we can do is even more important than ever. | LWVRichardson board member Nita Thomason led the effort to facilitate collecting donations from private donors to install a bench at Miss Belle's house in Richardson's Huffhines Park in memory of President Ellen Steger's son, John. Enough money was raised for two benches, so a second bench was installed at Miss Belle's house in honor of the League of Women Voters of Richardson.
Ellen sends her heartfelt thanks to Nita for spearheading this project and to all those who contributed. What a wonderful tribute to John! Hopefully, when it cools off a bit, you will be able to enjoy sitting on the benches while admiring Miss Belle's house. |
Daniel Burdette Is Sworn In
| | Daniel Burdette was sworn in at the Richardson City Council meeting on Monday, September 28, and will serve the remainder of Mr Barrios's unexpired term. Mr Barrios has resigned from Richardson City Council to pursue another elected office.
Mr. Burdette was appointed by Richardson City Council at its September 22 meeting as the lone finalist for the Place 3 position.
All six City Council members and the Mayor are up for election in the May 1, 2027, local election. | | | Picture courtesy of Richardson City Councilmember Arafin Shamsul. | | Donate
The League of Women Voters of Richardson relies primarily 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?
You are welcome to email our Membership chair at
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