By james art Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly announcement about the people, places and policies that define Texas, created by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.
MCALLEN — Rodolfo Rendon de Hoyos is disappointed his South Texas college town was not chosen to host an early voting site.
Now, a student organizer at Texas A&M International University in Laredo is demanding answers from Webb County officials.
On Tuesday, De Hoyos and a group of students called on Webb County officials to reinstate the university as a polling place during early voting, accusing them of suppressing student voting because there is only a polling place there on Election Day.
Webb County officials said the decision not to host an early voting center at the university was negotiated by both political parties and multiple county officials and was influenced by concerns about data and logistics. Early voting ends Friday, making the students’ request moot for the 2024 election. However, district officials have signaled a willingness to reconsider the campus as an early voting location in the upcoming election.
However, the clash is the latest controversy in Texas over access to voting, particularly on college campuses. Earlier this year, Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, discussed eliminating early voting sites for some of its college students. The plan, which GOP leaders said was an attempt to help conservatives win, was ultimately rejected. More generally, state lawmakers spent significant time in 2023 rewriting state laws that govern when and how early voting centers operate.
De Hoyos, 20, is a permanent resident and therefore cannot legally vote. His unelectability motivates him to encourage those who have the right to vote.
Laredo College students coordinated with MOVE Texas, a nonprofit organization that works to promote civic engagement among youth communities, to provide free transportation from the campus to a polling place about 5 miles away as part of Vote Early Day, a movement, launched by MTV, the pop culture television network.
About half a dozen students participated – a small fraction of the total student population of about 8,500.
Top Texas News,
sent on weekday mornings.
“To me, this is quite frankly absurd and very counterproductive to the concept of democracy,” said Alexis Esparza, a TAMIU student. “Why do we, a student body, have to go out and organize buses for people to go and vote?
Esparza pointed to a Texas Tribune analysis showing that only 50 percent of the state’s 36 public universities had an early voting site on campus in 2022. Only two of the nine historically black colleges and universities in Texas had an early voting site. voting.
More than 95 percent of Webb County’s population identifies as Hispanic, a voting bloc that both Republicans and Democrats have identified as important to winning seats in South Texas.
TAMIU students argued that having space on their campus is essential for students with busy class schedules who must work long hours or who live on campus.
“To essentially remove the closest polling place they could have, just put a lot more obstacles in their daily lives,” De Hoyos said.
Webb County Judge Tano E. Tijerina, a Democrat, said the county previously had a mobile voting site at TAMIU during early voting, but state lawmakers banned such temporary voting sites in 2019.
Tijerina added that the campus lacks sufficient guest parking and sees low activity. For Election Day, the county works with the university to have 15 designated voter parking spaces.
“I’m trying to make it more accessible,” Tijerina said. “Why would we try to suppress?”
The students accused district officials of not addressing their concerns about polling stations during previous meetings. The judge, who acts as the county’s chief executive officer, said the precincts were discussed in two public meetings twice, but the students did not show up for either.
Conversely, polling centers were not discussed at the meeting attended by the students. And because the matter was not on the publicly posted agenda, county commissioners could not discuss the matter.
Countywide polling stations are not decided by one person, said Elections Administrator Jose Luis Castillo. He said his office meets with county party chairs and bases its decision on historical turnout data. The election is then approved by the commissioners court.
Webb County Democratic Party Chair Sylvia Bruni said she was not consulted about the location of the early voting locations and spoke with Castillo only after the decision was made not to include the university as a polling place.
“If I were involved, I would unequivocally protest the decision to remove early voting sections from TAMIU,” Bruni said.
Castillo later clarified that he met with the party chairmen about the March voting locations, not the general election locations.
So while the university was not selected this year, Castillo said they will consider the site for future elections.
“I’ve already gone to visit the site – it’s a good fit, we’ll have reserved parking,” Castillo said.
Tierina agreed that the county will likely use the site in the future once parking spaces are made, and Castillo seems happy with that.
Rio Grande Valley Reporting is supported in part by Methodist Health Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
Disclosure: MOVE Texas and Texas A&M International University are financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in Tribune journalism. Find a full list of them here.