League of Women Voters expands into Llano County
Denise Kennedy (left) of Castell, Diane Moster, and Shirley Powers, both of Llano, go over plans for voter registration in Llano County. The three are members of the Llano County unit of the League of Women Voters-Hill Country Texas. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman
Daily life is directly affected by who is voted into office, especially on the local level, which is why the League of Women Voters started expanding into rural areas about five years ago.
“Initially, a league represented one county,” said Janice Zitelman, the president of the LWV-Hill Country Texas, which represents six regional counties, including Llano.
The counties in those single-county leagues usually had a population of 50,000 or higher. The population in Llano County is 23,127; Burnet County’s is 55,415. Burnet County does not have a league presence yet, but if it did, it would be in the LWV’s Austin Area.
A unit must have around five members to get started. Llano County joined the league’s Hill Country area with 10 members.
“Llano has a really strong group of enthusiastic people,” Zitelman said. “Bandera (another Hill Country unit) has only four members. They still haven’t caught fire, but they do have some action going on there.”
“Action” for the League of Women Voters involves educating and registering voters, publishing candidate guides, and holding candidate forums. As a non-partisan group, the LWV prides itself on presenting candidates fairly, ensuring each is given the same questions, the same length of time at forums, and the same amount of space in printed guides to present their backgrounds and ideas.
“In the last 10 years, it’s been a total relief to be non-partisan,” said Bunny Bond of Kerrville, LVW-Hill Country Texas’ public relations person. “It brings you a different sense of being able to look at politics and interact with people. For me, personally, it’s been a job. People from both parties contact me for information.”
The national League of Women Voters started in 1919 to teach the practice of voting to women newly enfranchised by the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The league has included male members since the 1970s.
“We’re not a women’s-only group anymore,” said Llano County unit leader Diane Moster. “And we’re not just for ‘gray-hairs.’ The League of Women Voters is a diverse group.”
LWV-Hill Country Texas includes Bandera, Blanco, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, and Llano counties.
The Llano County unit is new. It held its first meeting in July and staged two candidate forums in Kingsland in the spring, one for the Llano County Precinct 3 commissioner primary election and the other for the May elections for the Llano Independent School District Board of Trustees and the Kingsland Municipal Utility District board.
“Local government affects you more on a day-to-day basis than whoever the heck is sitting in Washington,” said Denise Kennedy, a LWV-Hill Country Texas member from Castell. “It’s a civic responsibility that people have fought and lost their lives for. People in other countries would kill for this right. They would risk their lives for it.”
Moster agreed.
“Everything in our daily life is controlled by those people who run for office: our city government, our county commissioners, our state representatives,” she said. “It affects what we pay, what our roads are like, what our schools are like. Your vote matters.”
The LWV-Hill Country Texas voting guide for the Nov. 5 general election should be ready for distribution by Oct. 1, Moster said. It will include information about candidates and how, when, and where to vote, including early voting.
In September, several local league members visited Llano High School to talk to seniors about the importance of registering to vote and when they can register. Anyone who is going to be 18 before or on Election Day, Nov. 5, can vote in the election if registered by Oct. 7. You don’t have to be 18 to register.
“They don’t think it matters,” said league member Shirley Powers of Llano about the students. She was wearing a colorful T-shirt she designed with the words: “Let’s Make Some Noise, Ladies. VOTE!”
“Education is so dependent on who is in office,” she continued. “That’s the message we want to get across.”
Kennedy taught history and government in high school for 30 years and keeps a list of who won or lost by one vote. Moster is on that list. She lost a re-election bid for the Pilot Point school board by two votes several years ago. Her two voting-age children were in college and did not bother to cast a ballot.
Closer to home, Marble Falls’ 2022 mayoral race was decided by a three-vote margin, ousting the incumbent. The vote count was 226 to 224—a turnout of 8.92 percent of registered voters. The race was decided by only 450 people out of a population of over 7,000.
“It’s your country,” said Moster about why more people need to take voting seriously. “We talk about our rights, but what about our responsibilities?”