A Beginner's Guide to T4PE
Welcome to our group.  We're a group of people who are sick of what the politicians are doing with our school system, so we're taking it back using something they understand very well. We're block voting (and yes, the misspelling is intentional), and that's a very personal decision with which we want every member comfortable. 

Second, check out the recommendations posted for voting. Every state race has been researched and documented for you. We, as a group, vote for those in green when we can and vote against those in red when we can. These ratings are not final, and may be brought forward for discussion by anyone in the group if you feel they should be changed. These should be OUR ratings, not the gospel according to Troy. I only provide a foundation from which we can begin.

Finally, make sure to sign up for our texting service by texting @PYJB9Q to the number 858-256-6691. If you would like a text reminder on election dates, signing up will get you an alert the day early voting starts, the day before the election, and the day of election. This service is also used to notify members that there is a ratings vote going on.  (More on that process below.) Other than that, we will not be using this service to spam anyone, etc.  It is only for alerts for important items. 

If you would like to commit to the next level, please join us in our Facebook group as we discuss issues, inform one another about current events, and research what's going on in Texas politics regarding public education. Whatever your decision and level of involvement, God bless you all, and thank you for standing up for Texas public education!

The Ratings Process
A note for everyone on how the process will work to unite our votes when elections come around. Right now, those of us in the research crew are researching the voting records, contributors, media releases, etc, of every elected state official including house, senate, and SBOE. When we get closer to election time, we will also research every non-incumbent candidate to the same depth, although there's often not much on each one. After an individual is researched, the committee will vote on a rating.

Everyone starts at neutral. It then takes 75% of the committee to move someone either to unfriendly or friendly status. Once the spreadsheet is published for the group with both ratings and research included, any member is entitled to bring a rating up for debate. If a call for a change of rating is made by 10 people, that rating will go up for a vote by the entire group. A call for a group vote is simply a post that says, "I would like to call for a group vote for Senator X's rating."  Once nine more people expressly comment on that post that they, too, would like for the ratings vote to go to the group, a poll will be created. The poll for that rating will stay up for 24 hours so everyone gets a chance to vote. As with the committee, it will take a 75% vote to change the rating. 

If there is a tie in a race, and there is an incumbent, the tie will always go to the incumbent, as that person is a proven quantity with a voting track record. If there is a tie in a race without an incumbent (say, two neutrals running in a primary or in a general election which has no incumbent), analysis will be made of what percentage of each candidate's votes were friendly votes.  The candidate with the highest percentage of friendly votes will receive the blockvote by the membership unless the gap of friendly votes is 10% or less.  In that case, a "voter's choice" will be declared and members will be free to vote for either candidate.
 
In regards to candidates with a friendly rating: when we finished with the first round (incumbents)  a subpage was added to the website where links were installed to each person with a friendly rating. It will be one-stop shopping for you if you wish to donate to a friendly campaign whether they are in your district or not. There is no obligation to donate to anyone...just making it convenient and overtly supporting friendlies.

Once the spreadsheet is out, each member has committed to block voting. The spreadsheet is your guide. We will all vote for friendly candidates when the opportunity presents itself, and we will vote against unfriendly candidates when that opportunity presents itself. We will do this without regard to party or other issues.

There will be another post a little farther down the road about how we can best use block voting by crossing over party lines in primaries, but that can wait a bit. (...and before someone says it...yes, it's legal. I would never suggest unlawful or unethical actions to the group.)

All of this is a bit outside of the box that the parties have trained us to live in, and I am grateful to each and every one of you for making the leap of faith it takes to do this. Please feel free to share this post with anyone you wish who wants to know what it is we're doing, and God bless you all! 😊