These are perilous times for democracy, and perilous times for advocates for democracy – starting with covering the rent.
Being wholly volunteer, the League of Women Voters Austin Area doesn’t have staffing costs, but maintaining office space has been one of its greatest financial burdens. For almost three decades, they were lucky, with kind landlords at their former office at 31st and Lamar locking them in at a more-than-manageable $300 a month. When, as is the way of Austin commercial real estate, that building was sold, they ended up office-hopping until Tim League rented them space in the new Baker Center. It turned out, it was a family affair – his mother was a member. “She brought him up right,” said League of Women Voters Executive Director Debbi Voss.
The Austin chapter was among the first tenants of the Baker Center back when it opened in 2019. In a building full of creative industries, it may seem like an outlier, but it’s undoubtedly benefited from the crackling community energy of the building. Voss pointed to changes that League helped enact in the First Vote! Program, designed to educate young citizens in how to participate in our participatory democracy. Voss said, “He looked at our presentation and he thought that it was too boring for high school students.”
“And rightly so,” First Vote! Chair Susana Carranza added, “because everyone was getting tired of the visuals but nobody had the tools to make it better.”
League and some volunteers from the Drafthouse helped revamp the design to make the content more appealing … and then he just kept going. Voss explained, “Next thing I know, he’s taking the training and going to talk to seniors in Manor and Elgin.”
But it’s not just League. It’s the whole Baker community that’s helped usher in a new era for the League of Women Voters, and especially its youthfulness. “I’m 75 years old myself,” Voss said, and the membership tends to lean older, “but it was such a refreshing thing to move in here because we were not used to seeing twentysomethings lying on couches, lying in the hallways, on the phone, and that’s their job. Just to be around younger people, very creative people, is inspiring to us.”
Moreover, she added, “The younger folks are always very curious about what we’re doing here,” and that interest parlays into involvement, exactly when it’s most needed. Historically, the League of Women Voters has been rigorously nonpartisan, instead devoted to the ideals of the democratic process. On April 17, in response to the Trump administration ignoring Supreme Court rulings over the treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the national league issued a clear statement: “Our country is in a constitutional crisis.” Voss said, “We took a lot of heat for that, but we were just stating a fact.” For the first time ever, the LWV has been involved in protests and unexpected partnerships: Yet Voss described this new era as actually a continuation of their commitments, and they’re lucky to have landlords that share those values. She said, “Nonpartisan doesn’t mean ‘neutral.’ It means that we are protecting the Constitution.”
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This article appears in January 23 • 2026.