Chase Rogers
The Hays County Commissioners Court on Aug. 25 voted 3-2 against adding a second polling location on Texas State’s campus for Election Day, Nov. 3. A single location at the university’s Performance Arts Center will be available for early voting and Election Day.
The proposed location would have been in the campus’s recreation center, as the location used in prior elections, the LBJ Student Center, has been repurposed into classrooms adhering to COVID-19 mitigation guidelines and social distancing.
The Hays County Citizen Election Advisory Commission, comprised of representatives from county government, school districts, party chairs, the university and other stakeholders, voted 8-10 in favor of adding an additional polling location at Texas State – a recommendation that was given to commissioners before the Tuesday vote.
Along party lines, Republican commissioners Mark Jones, Lon Shell and Walt Smith voted against adding the Election Day location and County Judge Ruben Becerra and Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe, both Democrats, voting in favor. The vote would not have added the location for the three prescribed weeks of early voting.
Smith said he voted against the resolution in part because of special steps taken to ease voting at the university location, citing the implementation of dual check-in booths and a third booth aiming to clarify and resolve voter registration issues – the latter being a measure not taken at any other polling location in the county.
Smith explained his decision with an analogy, saying students have been given the resources to ensure their ballot is cast and need to follow through.
“If (my daughters) don’t eat before they go to school – they had the opportunity. They had the cereal in the cabinet and milk in the cupboard.…at the end of the day, it is not my responsibility to stand there with a spoon and put it in their mouth,” Smith said. “There is a level of responsibility that has to be met.”
Smith also noted other polling locations within proximity of the university are within walking distance for students. The closest two polling locations to the campus are the San Marcos Activity Center and the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos, both of which are approximately 25-30-minutes one-way from campus when walking.
Texas Rising Deputy Field Organizer Catharine Wicker, who spoke in public comment before the court’s vote, likened the walking distance to a 5K that students face barriers undertaking due to schooling, work schedules and financial capability.
“Students often don’t have reliable transportation even if it is three miles away…students can’t legally get time off until Election Day to go vote, meaning early voting is often not possible for members of the community group,” Wicker said. “(Students) votes matter just as much as your precious vote, the only difference is barriers have been added.”
Previous polling locations at Texas State have been subject to long lines and wait times in the past, first prominently covered in the 2018 midterms when students using the location faced upwards of four-hour wait times lasting past the closing time of the location.
Most recently, the LBJ Student Center polling location on Super Tuesday saw voters unable to vote until nearly midnight after waiting in a 3-to-4-hour line. The LBJ Student Center was in the top five polling locations used in this election but faced the longest recorded wait times, according to check-in data provided by the Hays County Elections Center.
Texas Civil Rights Project President Mimi Marziani addressed a letter to Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs to express “alarm over the widespread voter suppression our organization documented across the State of Texas during the March 3, 2020 Primary Elections,” citing Texas State as one of the examples.
There will be an additional week of early voting per an order by Gov. Greg Abbott, starting Tuesday, Oct. 13, to Friday, Oct. 30. Election Day slated for Nov. 3. Oct. 5 is the last day to register to vote for the upcoming presidential election.
