Travis County Commissioners approved polling locations, which included University of Texas’ Peter T. Flawn Academic Center—often called FAC. However, the Travis County Clerk’s Office did not secure locations for students at St. Edward's University, Huston-Tillotson University, or any Austin Community College campuses.
The speakers explained the barriers college students face while voting, including lack of transportation or the election interfering with finals week or holiday travel.
“[Polling locations at] college campuses are critical to student turnout,” said Caleb Newton, a recent graduate from UT, pointing to the long lines at St. Edward’s University on Nov. 8.
Dana Hess, Chief Deputy for Travis County, said Travis County clerk’s office chose St. Edward’s University as a potential polling location, but it was not selected by the City of Austin, which determined the polling locations because all the runoff election races are within city limits.
While Travis County Clerk’s Office has authority on elections, there are still hoops they must go through before confirming a polling location, such as getting approval from the Department of Justice and from entities—such as college campuses or grocery stores—to use their space. Beyond that, polling locations must be ADA compliant and able to house 15 voting machines while retaining a safe and quiet space, said Hess.
Judge Andy Brown and Commissioners Margaret Gomez, Ann Howard and Jeffrey Travillion all spoke in support of adding voting locations to college campuses. Commissioner Brigid Shea was absent.
“The FAC is a really important voting center, because students might not know about these [non-presidential] elections, but when they have a line wrapped around the building or see a voting sign, that's their sign that they need to do their civic duty,” said UT senior Bennet Burke.
Another speaker mentioned students are often traveling during run-off election time, so campuses need to be available for early voting as well.
However, Travis County Commissioners passed a resolution set by Commissioner Ann Howard to start working toward securing polling locations on more college campuses.
“We need to partner with the clerk’s office to set the gold standard for equitable access to voting in Travis County,” said Howard. “Going forward we want to include as many college campuses as we can in every election, in order to instill the practice of voting with our young people, in young leaders.”
