Want to increase voter participation in Texas AND do it easily?

Check college websites for easy-to-find and current information for voter registration for this upcoming election. You can do this easily with computer access (or at least an internet connection with a means to call or email). Remember community colleges and technical schools too.

Is their info out of date? If their website info on voting registration and upcoming elections is out of date, then find contact info for past election/registration drives and contact them by phone or email, asking them to post updated election info for this year (I’ll share sources and links at the end of this article). If you can’t find the info at all? Then you can try Public Affairs office or the campus newspaper.

Bottom line: If you persevere until you reach someone at the college who can remind students to register to vote through the campus newspaper or on their website then just think of how many students you might encourage.

Why am I talking about this when elections are in November? Because the last day to register to vote and have all your ducks lined up (like polling location, address, etc.) is October 11th, 2022.

Why colleges? We need more of the younger population to vote.

· Good news: according to 2016 census, the 18 to 24 age group is the only group to see voter turnout increase since 2012.

· Bad news: 18 to 24 age group has been consistently the lowest turnout from 1980 to 2016.

Since many students start the school year away from their “home” they need to plan if where they want to vote and their polling location. If they’re not able to vote at “home” they can find out about the absentee ballot.

Voting in Person in Texas: Texas is one of the handful of states where a student ID isn’t valid at the polls.

Here’s another reason to get more young people to vote. They have tech savvy so they will know how to navigate the online registration process for voting.

Image from Texas Secretary of State

HUGE MYTH: Presidential elections only matter. Perhaps now that matters even less. In Texas and nationally, many prominent politicians and political action committees (PACs) push harder for weakened federal government and increasing states’ rights. So, when we don’t vote in all these other elections then we’re leaving only a few voters to determine the course of our states’ governments.

Resources and Links:

National Education Association (NEA) College Student Voter Registration Tips https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/college-student-voter-registration-tips

· Changing State Voter Registration

· Absentee Voting

· ID Laws

· Changing Polling Locations

Helping you vote no matter what https://www.democracy.works/turbovote-about