On April 29th, Austin Interfaith held the largest assembly in the city with 500+ organization members at Mount Olive Baptist Church; the church is located in Precinct 124 in East Austin.  Early voter turnout increased by 65% compared to 2011 council election turnout and by 9:30pm Saturday night had recorded an 85% increase over final election day turnout from 2011.   These increases in raw numbers of voters were the result of coordinated efforts by Austin Interfaith member congregations in East Austin.   Efforts included pulpit announcements to vote in several eastside congregations, GOTV walks held by 24 leaders over two weekends and phone banking involving a team of 9 additional leaders from downtown congregations

At an assembly with 504 Austin Interfaith delegates, candidates for City Council and Mayor committed to raising electricity rates no higher than 20% for congregations and to broaden assistance to people with limited incomes.

Candidates were also challenged about publicly funded incentives, as Austin has been the center of high-profile incentive deals in recent years.  Austin Interfaith got all candidates to commit to setting a wage standard for permanent (and construction) workers ranging between $11-20 per hour. Candidates also agreed to a community study and dialogue with Austin Interfaith to determine what constitutes a living wage in Austin.

Candidates for Sheriff and US Congress also committed to working with the organization.

Early Voting Begins in Municipal Races, KXAN

“Church leaders are banding together to fight a proposed Austin Energy rate increase that they say will hurt their ability to help the poor in the community.

Austin Churches Unite to Oppose Energy Rate Hike, KVUE News

Austin Interfaith Statements, Austin Channel 6 [Citizen Communication Start at 0:30 & 20:25; Also at Item 107, Part 3 at 33:46]

Be Heard Today on Electricity Rate Increase, KUT

Controversy Surrounds New Jobs Coming to Austin, KVUE-ABC

On the morning of October 6th, Austin City Council passed the Public Health and Human Service budget and two other items that moved additional funding to Capital Idea, keeping the program at 2011 level funding ($1.08 million) for FY 2012. Over the last year leaders attended public hearings and council meetings to challenge the City's no-lobbying ordinance and eventually met face-to-face meetings with council members to secure this funding as well as the expansion of funding for other programs.

This past month Travis County Commissioners Court voted not only for the continuation of level funding ($700,000) for Capital Idea it also added another $97,000 to help supplement cuts from the state.

The resolution will also require that a safety supervisor with 30 hours of training be present at construction sites. A study released by the University of Texas in 2009 found that the Texas construction industry is the most deadly in the nation, with a worker dying on the job every 2.5 days. In Austin, one in every five construction workers is seriously injured on the job, in part because 64% of construction workers have never received a basic safety training. Numerous studies have found that safety training reduces costly accidents and saves lives.

At the Austin Interfaith Accountability Session this past April 800 people gathered, heard stories on a range of issues including unsafe working conditions and asked all candidates for city council if they would support expanded safety training. The candidates publicly answered that they would, and they kept their commitment—now all workers on city-owned construction sites, even when a third party developer is used, will be provided with an OSHA 10 hour safety training prior to working on the construction site.

Video of City Council (Click on Item 106)

Perhaps there is another explanation for the increased turnout in early voting for the runoff election: Austin Interfaith.

In a release on Thursday, the ecumenical group said it has “conducted an intensive non-partisan Get out the Vote Campaign” over the past three months for the May 14 city election and the June 18 runoff. According to the group, more than 100 leaders from 27 Austin Interfaith member institutions took to their pulpits, got on the phone and went door-to-door to get out the vote. Its leaders targeted five specific precincts: on the East side precincts 124, 438 and 439; on the South side in Dove Springs, Precinct 450; and on the North side, Precinct 163.

During the last weekend of early voting Austin Interfaith leaders engaged over 700 households with the result that early voting was up significantly, they say. Austin Interfaith targeted several precincts in November 2010 with similar results.

Haz 'click' en el articulo o video abajo para descubrir como las candidatas Randi Shade y Kathy Tovo respondieron a la agenda de Austin Interfaith sobre la seguridad en el trabajo, permisos legados para los taxistas y un sueldo digno.

Artículo

Video

La votación temprano comienza Lunes, 6 de Junio y termina el Martes, 14 de Junio.

Los lugares para votar están abiertos entre 7:00 am – 7:00 pm en el Ultimo Día para Votar – Sábado, 18 de Junio.

Austin voters have showed little interest in early voting so far this year, says Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir. She says less than two percent of registered voters in Travis County have cast ballots for the Austin City Council Elections.

“We’ve only had a little more than six thousand people go in person to early vote,” DeBeauvoir said. “That is really, pretty low.”

DeBeauvoir is quick to remind people that there are still a few days left in early voting. The deadline is Tuesday.

The meager turnout is motivating community members with Austin Interfaith to hit the streets. This weekend the group block-walked in East Austin neighborhoods to remind people to vote.

Minerva Camarena Skeith knocked on apartment doors at the Booker T. Washington complex in East Austin.

“There are a lot of people who are registered, it’s concentrated, and we can go very quickly,” she said.

Travis County’s DeBeauvoir says low voter turnout is usually the norm in City Council elections, especially when there is no Mayor’s race or hot-button initiative on the ballot.

” I think the highest percentage turnout we’ve had is about 13 percent, here, in the most recent years,” DeBeauvoir said.

It was the smoking ordinance proposed in the May of 2005 that drew out that modest crowd of voters. DeBeauvoir said she believes people just haven’t gotten around to voting yet. But Minerva Camarena Skeith says some are just confused.

“Part of us coming out here walking to encourage people to vote is that you’ll hear these misconceptions and myths about voting or why people don’t vote, and we can both educate but also encourage and make sure there is a purpose for voting,” Camarena Skeith said.

Take Janice Bell. She hasn’t voted in five years because she thought she had to register to vote every year in order to cast a ballot.

“Ohh, (people are) probably like me. Thinking you have to register every year or if you done change your address, you have to go through a lot more difficulties, you know, so it’s probably just the change,” she said.

Whatever the reason, you still have until Tuesday to make your choice. Just take your driver’s license with to any polling center in town. But on Election Day, Saturday, May 14, voters will need to report to their assigned precinct to vote.

eaguilar@kut.org