LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS®

We do not participate in the ceremonies themselves, but we do get to watch and listen. The judge or other presiding official often encourages attendees to see us after the ceremony to get registered to vote. We man a table or two in the rear of the room and once the individuals are sworn in and released, many of them stop by to get registered. We either fill out the registration forms for them (the preferred method to insure acceptance by the County Elections office) or give them a form they can mail back.

One of the central missions of the LWV is getting folks registered to vote. By working at the Naturalization Ceremonies you have a chance to get brand new citizens introduced to their privileges and responsibilities as US citizens. Also, there are often a great number of questions we can help answer, especially near an election.

The Naturalization Ceremonies do not happen on a set schedule, although they usually occur once or twice a quarter.  We usually have 2-4 weeks notice and Barbara Rubin coordinates the volunteers. Most ceremonies take about an hour and then the voter registration lasts for between 30 minutes and an hour depending upon the number of new citizens as well as the number of volunteers. On rare occasions there are both morning and afternoon ceremonies: you can volunteer to work one or both of the sessions as your schedule permits. While is it not required that you be a Deputy Registrar to participate, it is encouraged.

Contact the coordinator at naturalization@lwvtarrantcounty.org to be placed on the volunteer list for the Naturalization Ceremonies.

NEXT NATURALIZATION CEREMONY:  Thursday, August 20th at 11:00 a.m. in Judge John McBryde's Fort Worth courtroom. It is expected that 70-80 new citizens will be sworn in at that time. Please contact the coordinator, Barbara Rubin at the email address above if you would like to volunteer.

Tuesday, July 28^th: 41 citizens sworn in from 21 countries, 14 registered on the spot. Others took forms to mail in. Volunteers were: Barbara Rubin,  Emma Allen and Vincent Kiernan.