DALLAS — A voting rights organization representing young Americans said it has a lawsuit ready to file if Texas bans polling places on college campuses, as one recently filed GOP bill proposes.
“This bill is not about where Texans are voting — it’s about which Texans are voting: young people who want change,” said Santiago Mayer, executive director and founder for Voters of Tomorrow. “Similar laws restricting students’ voting rights have been struck down in courts across the country, and we are very confident our lawsuit will succeed in court. The Texas legislature will soon learn that our voting rights are off limits.”
State Rep. Carrie Isaac, R-New Braunfels, introduced a brief piece of legislation last week, House Bill 2390, which is only 13 lines long, that proposes a ban on voting sites being placed on college campuses.
"Here in Texas, we have one of the longest early voting periods of any state in the nation," Isaac said, according to KVUE. "We're open for polling for two weeks. Every day, all day for two weeks. I don't think it's wise that we're inviting people onto our campuses that wouldn't otherwise be on our campuses."
But Voters of Tomorrow says Isaac's bill is another attempt to suppress the youth vote in this state.
Gen Z voters have significantly influenced races during the last three election cycles. In 2022, young voters helped prevent, what was at the time thought to be, a predicted wave of Republican wins, according to Jack Lobel on the Y'all-itics podcast in December.
Twenty-seven percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18–29 cast ballots last year and they overwhelmingly backed Democrats by a nearly 30-point margin.
Last fall, officials in Brazos County removed an early-voting location from the Texas A&M University campus. The Texas Tribune later reported that the polling site was the second-busiest in the county.
Rep. Isaac's legislation is has not yet been referred to a committee for a hearing.
Voters of Tomorrow is a national, Gen Z-led, nonpartisan organization that engages young people in politics and government.
