On Wednesday, September 9, 2015, the Advocacy Alliance Center of Texas hosted a kick-off event in commemoration of Valley Voter Awareness Month at the Edinburg Conference Center.
The purpose of the event was to present a ten year resolution that was proposed by AACT and passed by the 84th Texas State Legislature to designate September as Valley Voter Awareness Month.
Texas House Concurrent Resolution was sponsored by state Representative Sergio Muñoz, Jr., and state Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa. It encourages the public and private sector, educational, cultural, and religious institutions, grass roots organizations, and the media to contribute to the movement of increasing voter awareness/participation and to encourage the community to register and vote consistently throughout elections.
The Advocacy Alliance Center of Texas is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established to increase voter turnout in South Texas. AACT’s commitment to the communities of South Texas is a year-round effort to educate, engage, and empower its citizens so that they are aware of the importance of voting and have an understanding of the relationship between the electoral process and the issues that directly affect their daily lives.
In the last major election, only 24 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in the Rio Grande Valley, and we feel that there is much more potential for our communities’ residents to exercise their civic rights and responsibilities. In order to counter low voter turnout trends, it is critical to provide resources that will help remove the barriers to voting in our communities. AACT educates the youth about the importance of voting, makes presentations to motivate people in the workforce, provides information regarding voting and elections to people that may not necessarily have access to it, and eliminates the cost of registering to vote by providing people with convenient means of getting registered.
Also, as a service to the community, AACT provides support to any organization that wishes to host efforts promoting Valley Voter Awareness Month and the importance of voting. Some of these efforts may include: voter registration drives, voter education presentations, pledge-to-vote campaigns, or simply posting signage and distributing internal communications/flyers to create positive voter participation reminders.
If you would like more information regarding of Valley Voter Awareness Month please call (956)664-2228. For more information regarding AACT, please visit www.aactnow.org
