Defending Democracy Award Celebration Tickets On Sale
The Defending Democracy Award Celebration is April 23, 2026. This is the only fundraising event for the LWV of Iowa. Please join us at the Jasper Winery to honor Rita Bettis Austen.
- Date: Thursday, April 23, 2026
- Time: 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
- Location: Jasper Winery, 2400 George Flagg Parkway, Des Moines
- Buffet Dinner: Baratta’s. Cash bar available.
- Tickets: Buy tickets at the Eventbrite site. Tickets are $75.00 plus a $6.88 Eventbrite fee. ($81.88 total per person). Click here to buy tickets on Eventbrite.
- Want to pay by check? The price by check is $75.00 per person. The contact person is Shannon Patrick, the Treasurer for LWV Iowa. Email him at [email protected]
- Speaker: The guest speaker is Tim Glaza, special projects director with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement in Des Moines and leads the organization’s public education campaign efforts.
Our Honoree
The League of Women Voters of Iowa is awarding Rita Bettis Austen the 2026 Defending Democracy Award. The Award is given to an individual or organization who exemplifies leadership in our mission to protect voters and maintain free, fair elections.
Rita is the Legal Director of the ACLU of Iowa, where she has proudly worked since 2011. As Legal Director, she oversees the legal program’s efforts to promote and protect the basic rights and freedoms of all Iowans through litigation. She has brought cases championing voting rights, freedom of speech and religion, racial justice, gender equality, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ equality, immigrants’ rights, fair sentencing for juveniles, and the rights of the accused. A partial list of the cases she worked with the LWVIA include:
- Blocking Discriminatory Voter Purge of New Citizens
- Protecting Absentee Voting during the COVID Pandemic
- Helping end felony disenfranchisement policies in Iowa
- Advocating against Iowa’s Voter ID laws
Rita is a 2010 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law, where she was editor in chief of the international law journal Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems and clerked for the national ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project in New York, as well as Justice for Our Neighbors in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is licensed to practice law in Iowa, New York, and Louisiana.
The one accomplishment she is incredibly proud of is her twin boys who were born in 2023 to Rita and her soulmate Joe, a civil rights attorney. Rita Bettis Austen is an Iowan who advocates the League of Women Voters’ mission empowering voters, defending democracy through her everyday actions.
Download the Defending Democracy Award Celebration art and share.
ADVOCACY RESOURCES
In September 2025 Amy Campbell presented a webinar that shared advocacy resources and information for members of the League of Women Voters of Iowa. Click on the image below to view a recording of the webinar.
