SAN JUAN — Two nonprofit organizations are joining forces this weekend to register new voters and inform them of their voting rights and best practices for voter protection as the deadline to register to vote in the November election looms near.
La Union del Pueblo Entero and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas will be hosting a drive-thru registration event Friday morning from 10 a.m. to noon outside LUPE’s headquarters, located at 1601 E. Business Highway 83 in San Juan.
The event is one of three the nonprofits plan to host this weekend, just days before Monday’s deadline to register to vote.
On Friday evening, the organizations will host a virtual education forum on voter protection.
“With only a few weeks before the start of early voting, LUPE and ACLU of Texas are working to provide critical information to voters as they prepare to head to the polls or vote by mail,” the organizations announced via news release Thursday.
The forum will be held at 6 p.m. via a Zoom meeting. Use Zoom Meeting ID: 852 7929 6476 and Passcode: 3m2d7v to log on, or call 1-(346)-248-7799.
“This election cycle we are faced with the challenge of a pandemic, changing the way polling locations will operate,” the release stated. “In addition, with the long history of voter suppression in Texas, LUPE and ACLU of Texas will discuss voter suppression tactics to look out for in this election cycle.”
On Saturday, the nonprofits will be out in full force making house calls to ensure new citizens who naturalized through LUPE’s immigration services department are registered to vote.
“Because of age and mobility issues, some new citizens may not be able to come to LUPE to register to vote. For them, LUPE volunteers will drop off blank voter registration forms during social-distanced house visits,” the release stated.
For more details on the house visits, contact Daniel Diaz at [email protected] or (956) 451-6346.
“LUPE is organizing colonia residents, new citizens, new voters, and other high-potential voters across South Texas to shift the balance of power this November,” the nonprofit stated. “By showing up and voting, we win protections for DACA, defend our community from border walls, and open new avenues for investing in healthcare for all, streetlights and flooding protections, fair and just immigration processes, and dignified wages.”
The ACLU of Texas also created Let Texas Vote, www.aclutx.org/lettexansvote, a one-stop online resource to supply voters with information they’ll need to navigate the 2020 election.
