{"id":12285,"date":"2020-10-22T16:47:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T16:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=12285"},"modified":"2020-10-22T16:47:52","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T16:47:52","slug":"texas-faith-group-wants-anxious-voters-to-understand-their-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=12285","title":{"rendered":"Texas faith group wants anxious voters to understand their options"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Early voting in Texas kicked off Tuesday, which means many people can expect long lines around their polling places.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Photo: chayka1270\/Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By ROZ BROWN
<\/strong>Texas News Service<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 There\u2019s a lot at stake in next month\u2019s election, and Texas faith groups are making a push to get voters to the polls by urging them to make a \u201cplan\u201d to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bee Moorhead, executive director of Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy \/Texas Impact<\/a>, said she believes the group\u2019s social-media campaign will reach people of faith, because congregations have become adept at attending worship services and other events virtually. She said she wants Texas voters to understand their options, whether that\u2019s in-person or mail-in voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we say make a plan to vote,\u201d she said, \u201cwe mean consider your options and make a plan, not just, \u2018I\u2019m totally planning to vote this year.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moorhead said some Texas voters who requested absentee ballots have since decided to vote in person on Nov. 3. She warned them not to destroy their ballots, because without them, they won\u2019t be allowed to vote in person at their polling place. The group\u2019s social-media campaign points viewers to the Texas Impact website<\/a> to find a flowchart for voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group interviewed prospective voters, including Brownsville\u2019s Daniel Castillo, to ask how they plan to cast their ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m an essential worker and I\u2019m vigilant about mask wearing and social distancing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to vote in person. It\u2019s totally safe as long as you follow the guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that plan might not be comfortable for older voters, or anyone with a compromised immune system. Austin residents Colleen Mikeska and David Vasallo said as parents, they have a unique game plan for voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith two kids and no one to babysit,\u201d Mikeska said, \u201cwe\u2019ve got to get a little creative to vote these days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of us will drive around the block,\u201d Vasallo added, \u201cand the other one will go in to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then,\u201d Mikeska said, \u201cwe\u2019ll swap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, a U.S. federal appeals court panel upheld Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s order to eliminate dozens of ballot drop-off sites just weeks before the election. The ruling reverses a federal judge\u2019s decision last week that halted the order \u2013 which means only one absentee ballot drop-off location is allowed for every Texas county, regardless of its size.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By ROZ BROWNTexas News Service AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 There\u2019s a lot at stake in next month\u2019s election, and Texas faith groups are making a push to get voters to the polls by urging them to make a \u201cplan\u201d to vote. Bee Moorhead, executive director of Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy \/Texas Impact, said she believes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12286,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285\/revisions\/12286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}