Walking together in a show of solidarity, a group of University of Texas at Arlington students headed to the early voting polls at Maverick Activities Center. The journey from their dorm, Vandergriff Hall, was not just a half-mile trek; it represented their commitment to exercising their right to vote, a right that freshman Finnly More and others took seriously. "I have the right to vote, so I'm going to use it. So many people, you know, forget that we fought so hard to be able to vote," More told the Fort Worth Report.
This mobilization followed a significant threat to remove college polling sites in Tarrant County, initiated by Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare. He expressed concerns about the accessibility of campus voting locations, emphasizing that commissioners should not favor any one group. However, some viewed this as a potential tactic to suppress voting. "That doesn’t seem like the right way to run an election," O’Hare said, as reported by The Texas Tribune. Nevertheless, his was the lone vote for the action as other commissioners, both Republicans, and Democrats voted against it—preserving these pivotal campus polling locations.
The initiative to get students to the polls was not without its leaders. Former resident assistant, Yaseen Tasnif took charge by registering peers and emphasizing the weight of their votes, particularly as people of color and as young voters. "We have a lot of issues that we need fixed as college students, as people of color, but unfortunately, because we don’t show up to the polls enough, we don't see accurate representation in politics," Tasnif explained to The Texas Tribune. Tasnif’s efforts reflect the larger national trend of increasing voter turnout among young people and students.
Supporting Tasnif's sentiments, Tarrant County College volunteer deputy registrar Barbara Leath noted a surge in voter registration interest from last spring to the fall. "When we left in the spring, we had a lot of kids saying, 'I’m not really interested in voting, or I’m not political,'" Leath recounted in an interview with the Fort Worth Report.
Political professors like James Riddlesperger from Texas Christian University observed that voter mobilization efforts have largely transferred to digital arenas. "We’re seeing it primarily in the forms of political advertisements that come across people’s social media feeds and perhaps in emails that come to their email boxes," Riddlesperger's commentary was captured by The Texas Tribune. This shift reflects the changing landscape in which today's younger voters live, connect, and engage politically.
