Nobody knows the importance of voting better than members of electric cooperatives. These nonprofit, community-minded organizations were created with democratically elected leadership as a core guiding principle.
It’s how you have your say on the Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative Board of Directors every year and on statewide and federal issues and leaders every spring and fall. It’s just part of being an American and a co-op member.
But as election season ramps up again this month, I want to tell you about an important new way to stay engaged in the political process to help ensure the future for electric cooperatives.
TVEC is part of a network of more than 830 co-ops across the U.S. that serve more than 42 million Americans. And now those folks are joining together through Voices for Cooperative Power, a grassroots network of co-op members created to help our elected officials better understand the many ways your electric co-op supports you and your community.
Much of the focus in Washington, D.C., these days is on large utilities in big cities, and as you know, co-ops like TVEC are fundamentally different.
We’re a local business that employs local people to power our community. We’re not motivated by profits but by people—our friends and neighbors—which is why energy affordability and reliability and economic development mean so much to us.
We could use your help putting a human face on the opportunities and hurdles facing America’s electric cooperatives. With tens of millions of small-town folks just like you, VCP hopes to build influence among the halls of power—but we need your help to get there.
By visiting voicesforcooperativepower.com and joining the VCP movement, you can receive updates on the issues that matter most to you and, when needed, information on how to contact your elected officials and government agencies on proposed legislation or regulations that impact your co-op.
That way, you’ll be ready October 23, when early voting starts across Texas this year. When we go to the polls with the cooperative principle of Concern for Community in mind, we instantly impact our political system.
It’s a system designed to produce a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”—just like your co-op. Help us make sure your voice and your friends and neighbors are represented by going to voicesforcooperativepower.com.
