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When Brazos County officials removed an early-voting location off Texas A&M University’s campus — a decision that spurred accusations of student voter suppression — at least one county commissioner cited poor voter turnout as a partial reason for the relocation.
But data shows it was one of the county’s most popular early-voting sites in recent general elections.
Commissioner Nancy Berry, who oversees the precinct that includes A&M, mentioned turnout at the Memorial Student Center as a supporting factor in moving the polling location to College Station City Hall for November’s midterms, according to College Station’s newspaper, The Eagle. And she similarly told the Houston Chronicle the location traditionally had “second-to-last in voter turnout” of the five early-voting locations — something that Kristina Samuel, an A&M senior and president of voter engagement group MOVE Texas A&M, said she was also told.
According to Brazos County in-person voting data reviewed by The Texas Tribune, the MSC had the county’s second-highest number of early voters in the 2018 and 2020 general elections. The county’s data shows that the MSC received 56,439 early-voting ballots in 2018. The number fell during the pandemic in 2020 to 14,717 early votes, but this was in line with dips at all other polling locations in the county.
Voting FAQ: 2024 Elections
When is the next election? What dates do I need to know?
Election Day for the general election is November 5, and early voting will run from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. The deadline to register to vote and/or change your voter registration address is Oct. 7. Applications to vote by mail must be received by your county of residence – not postmarked – by Oct. 25.
What’s on the ballot for the general election?
In addition to the president, eligible Texans have the opportunity to cast their ballots for many Texas officials running for office at the federal, state and local levels.
This includes representatives in the U.S. and Texas houses and the following elected offices:
-1 U.S Senator (Ted Cruz)
– 1 of 3 Railroad Commissioners
– 15 State Senators
– 7 State Board of Education members
– 3 members of the Texas Supreme Court
– 3 members of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
– 5 Chief Justices and various justices for Texas Courts of Appeals
Lower-level judges and local county offices will also appear on the ballot:
– Various district judges, including on criminal and family courts
– County Courts at Law
– Justices of the Peace
– District Attorneys
– County Attorneys
– Sheriffs
– Constables
– Tax Assessor-Collectors
How do I make sure I’m registered to vote?
You can check to see if you’re registered and verify your information through the Texas Secretary of State’s website. You’ll need one of the following three combinations to log in: Your Texas driver’s license number and date of birth. Your first and last names, date of birth and county you reside in. Your date of birth and Voter Unique Identifier, which appears on your voter registration certificate.
What if I missed the voter registration deadline?
You must be registered to vote in a Texas county by Oct. 7 to vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election. You can still register for other elections.
If you’re registered but didn’t update your address by the deadline, you may still be able to vote at your previous voting location or on a limited ballot. (Voters are typically assigned precincts based on where they live. In most major counties, voters can vote anywhere on Election Day, but some counties require you vote within your precinct. If that is the case, you may have to return to your previous precinct. See which counties allow countywide Election Day voting here. You can usually find your precinct listed on your voter registration certificate or on when checking your registration online.)
If you moved from one county to another, you may be able to vote on a ballot limited to the elections you would qualify to vote in at both locations, such as statewide races. However, limited ballots are only available during early voting. Find your county election official here and contact them to ask about or request a limited ballot.
What can I do if I have questions about voting?
You can contact your county elections official or call the Texas Secretary of State’s helpline at 1-800-252-VOTE (8683). A coalition of voting rights groups is also helping voters navigate election concerns through the 866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) voter-protection helpline. The coalition also has hotlines available for voters who speaker other languages or have accessibility needs.
For help in Spanish, call 888-VE-Y-VOTA or 888-839-8682.
For help in Asian languages, call 888-API-VOTE or 888-274-8683.
For help in Arabic, call 888-YALLA-US or 888-925-5287.
For help in American Sign Language through a video, call 301-818-VOTE or 301-818-8683.
For help from Disability Rights Texas, call 888-796-VOTE or 888-796-8683.
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When asked about these figures, Berry told the Tribune that what she meant by turnout was the amount of voters compared to the number of people who attend the school. She said the concentration of people on campus should have brought more early voters to the polling location.
“When you think of 70,000 people that are right there and then you have another [120,000] that are spread throughout the county, and that’s not the highest voting site, even though you have that high population of people,” she said. “That was the point that it was a lower turnout number relative to the rest of the county.”
But Patrick Flavin, a political science professor at Baylor University, said the high number of people who cast ballots on campus in the previous general elections should justify using it again. Berry had stated that she would be in favor of bringing the MSC back for early voting next year.
And calculating voter turnout by early-voting location isn’t so straightforward.
In Brazos County, there is one polling location in each of the four precincts — plus one at the county elections administrator’s office — for early voting. Registered voters in the county are able to cast their ballot at any early-voting sites instead of having to stick to a designated precinct
Flavin said that some students who voted could have cast ballots at other locations. And, he said, some voters who don’t attend A&M may have used the MSC as an early-voting location.
“To me, the raw numbers is a much more accurate test than based on how many people are in that area,” he said.
On the other hand, it’s true that votes cast at the MSC were among the fewest total early vote counts during the primary elections in 2022, 2020 and 2018. But Texas in general has historically seen limited participation in primary races.
What you can expect from our elections coverage
How we explain voting
We explain the voting process with election-specific voter guides to help Texans learn what is on the ballot and how to vote. We interview voters, election administrators and election law experts so that we can explain the process, barriers to participation and what happens after the vote is over and the counting begins. Read more here.
How readers inform our work
Instead of letting only politicians set the agenda, we talk to voters and scrutinize polling data to understand ordinary Texans’ top concerns. Our readers’ questions and needs help inform our priorities. We want to hear from readers: What do you better want to understand about the election process in Texas? If local, state or congressional elected officials were to successfully address one issue right now, what would you want it to be? What’s at stake for you this election cycle? If we’re missing something, this is your chance to tell us.
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We do not merely recount what politicians say, but focus on what they do (or fail to do) for the Texans they represent. We aim to provide historical, legal and other kinds of context so readers can understand and engage with an issue. Reporting on efforts that make voting and engaging in our democracy harder is a pillar of our accountability work. Read more here.
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We aren’t able to closely cover all 150 races in the Texas House, 31 in the Texas Senate or 38 for the Texas delegation in the next U.S. House. We need to choose what races we cover closely by using our best judgment of what’s most noteworthy. We take into account factors like power, equity, interest and competitiveness in order to determine what warrants more resources and attention. Read more here.
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In reporting on falsehoods and exaggerations, we clearly explain why it is untrue and how it may harm Texans. Sometimes, we choose to not write about misinformation because that can help amplify it. We’re more likely to debunk falsehoods when they are spread by elected officials or used as a justification for policy decisions. Read more here.
For Samuel, whose nonpartisan group champions voter engagement, the lack of communication around such nuance was “extremely misleading.”
“They’re going to poke and grab any kind of evidence used to justify that decision when in reality, it was just not a well thought-out decision,” she said.
Beyond turnout, Berry has largely attributed the decision to move the location off campus to complaints from nonstudents who said navigating the campus was difficult. Since the original decision, officials have said eliminating the location was a mistake. County commissioners discussed the decision again last week, but ultimately decided not to restore the MSC early-voting location after local officials said it would be logistically difficult so close to the Oct. 24 start to early voting.
Flavin said research shows that when the distance to voting locations increases, the voter turnout decreases. Instead, officials should prioritize putting polls in population centers and near public transportation to maximize participation.
“Putting one on a college campus to me would make a lot of sense,” he said.
In the meantime, Samuel said MOVE Texas A&M is focusing on engaging students and raising funds for shuttle buses to help transport them to the polls. Berry said the commissioners are also looking at transportation support, though no plan had been ironed out by Friday.
“I hope all the students get registered and come vote,” Berry said. “It was a mistake and we’re trying to do the best we can to correct it within the means that we have possible.”
Disclosure: Baylor University, MOVE Texas and Texas A&M University have been 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 the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Correction, Oct. 4, 2022: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that voters in Brazos County have been able to vote early anywhere in the county since 2016. They have always been able to vote early anywhere in Brazos County. Countywide voting on Election Day began there in 2016.
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