This fall, voters all across Texas will be voting on nine Propositions (state constitutional amendments). Other elections depend on where you live within Texas.

In Harris County, there are also candidates for Houston city positions, plus Houston Community College, school trustees.

With so many candidates running for so many positions in Houston and Harris Co., it's always a challenge to keep up with all of them, and decide how to vote. Luckily, there are people who compile info about the candidates to help us decide. Check out the links below for details.

A good (non-partisan) guide to all of the state Propositions, and to races in Harris Co., is the Harris Co. League of Women Voters' Voters Guide. You can pick up a copy at many libraries, or download it from http://lwvhouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/VG2013-English-WEB.pdf

Charles Kuffner's mid-year update on Burnt Orange Report, with good commentary about candidates as of June 2013 (watch for updates): http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13604/midyear-2013-houston-election-update

Charles Kuffner's comprehensive list of endorsements and interviews with Houston/Harris Co. candidates: http://offthekuff.com/wp/?page_id=54423 -- also note the many links in the right column, for more information on the 2013 elections.

How candidates voted in the last three Democratic and Republican primaries: http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=55657 (links to Harris Co. Dem. and Rep. party web sites)

Harris Co. Democratic Party's Municipal Questionnaire Results: http://www.harrisdemocrats.com/municipal_questionnaire_results

List of all candidates for Houston city positions, HISD trusteees, and HCC trustees, with financial reports: http://blog.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2013/08/see-our-chart-of-all-candidates-for-city-office-this-fall/

I'll add more links here as I find them, so please check back later.

For information about how the new Voter ID requirements will work, and other details about the election, see the LWV Voters Guide (first link above) or these official Harris Co. sites: http://www.harrisvotes.com and http://www.hctax.net/Voter/VoterID

The new Voter ID requirements are expected to give a lot of people trouble, so please review them at the links above. If you qualify to vote by mail (if you're over 65, disabled, or will be out of the county on election day and during the entire early voting period), it's best to do that so you can avoid the Voter ID problem. Go to http://www.harrisvotes.com/ to get a ballot by mail.

If you vote in the Texas primary (or during early voting), be sure to come back to your individual precinct voting location (not an early voting location) for your precinct convention.

Precinct conventions start at 7:15 PM, or after the last person in line has voted, and are a great place to educate others about issues you care about, and get resolutions on them approved and sent up to the Senate District (SD) conventions and the state convention, so they'll get noticed by a lot more people.

Go to our resolutions list http://paa-tx.org/resolutions and pick out resolutions of interest to you -- just click on the titles of any of them. Download the pdf versions that are formatted for printing, and bring several copies of each to your precinct convention. If you want to write your own resolution on a topic we did not cover, refer to our Resolution-Writing Guidelines (see link at http://paa-tx.org/resolutions ) for suggestions on how to write a good resolution that is likely to be passed.

Some additional resolutions are also on the Burnt Orange Report web site http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/10038/2010-tdp-resolutions-thread -- please see these too.

If you don't vote in the primary, you are eligible to sign petitions to help get the Green Party on the ballot in Texas this year. For at least one state-wide office (Comptroller), there's no Democrat on the ballot, so this is not even a conflict for any Dem. See http://hcgp.org for details.

Event Description:

See minutes here for Carol Christian's insightful tips for writing letters to the editor or guest editorials: http://www.paa-tx.org/node/3238

At the next PAA meeting, we can get some great tips and techniques for writing effective op eds and letters to the editors. Carol Christian, a Houston Chronicle reporter, has agreed to come help us learn more about how to write LTE and op eds that get published. Just bring the background information and data for an issue and some paper and pens and/or your laptop computer if you have one.

Event Sponsor:
Progressive Action Alliance

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