UTPB students sworn in as registrars
Sep. 28—Twenty-eight University of Texas Permian Basin honors students were sworn in as deputy voter registrars.
Ector County Elections Office Bilingual Coordinator Amanda Snyder did the honors for one class each of freshmen and sophomores.
UTPB Associate Professor of Art Chris Stanley said the students can register anybody in Ector County. Associate Professor of Political Science Robert Perry also works on the yearly project, which started around 2015.
Plans are to sign up students at Permian High School today (Wednesday, Sept. 29) at 8 a.m.
The last day to register to vote is Oct. 4, Stanley said.
He added that the deputy voter registrar program is now a teamwork assessment as part of the honors program.
"... It's worked quite well. We're hoping they become more engaged with that process for the rest of their lives," Stanley said.
Sophomores Jaidan Ramsey and Alexia Garcia are starting their second year of being deputy voter registrars.
Ramsey said she likes going out into the community and making a difference.
"There are a lot of people that aren't registered to vote that never really think about registering to vote because they don't care, but then they're registered and they see an election and they're like, I'm going to go vote. And, at least they have the option," Ramsey said.
Garcia said being registered and voting gives people a voice. Even if their candidate doesn't win, they know they tried to make a difference.
Ramsey said she registered to vote when she was 17 years and 10 months old.
"I was very excited. I turned 18 in an election year. ... It was something else," Ramsey said.
Stanley said they were specifically invited to go to Permian.
Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed Senate Bill 1 into law. The governor's office website says the bill "creates uniform statewide voting hours, maintains and expands voting access for registered voters that need assistance, prohibits drive-through voting, and enhances transparency by authorizing poll watchers to observe more aspects of the election process. The bill also bans the distribution of unsolicited applications for mail-in ballots and gives voters with a defective mail-in ballot the opportunity to correct the defect."
The Texas Tribune reported that the bill takes effect three months after the special session.
Stanley said the legislation hasn't changed the voter registrar program.
"It's hard to say what the actuality is going to look like. ... I think our voters are already lined out for ID (and) for all these other things. And so I think, personally, ... a lot of the issues in the state have more to do with the larger urban centers ... We have so many places to vote in Ector County that I don't see those issues hitting. And so for the class what's fascinating is as we get closer to this next election in November to watch that. ... One of the things that the sophomores got to do which was so cool is we had the Ector County Elections Office come and do a lecture on voter integrity in our county so that the students learned about what happens after the vote is cast from the polling place to the final count. I thought that was brilliant and the elections officials did such an incredible job ... so I would think that any group that's interested in those issues could ask the elections office and they would be able to give that same presentation ...," Stanley added.
He said it helps because you get the idea of how the voting process works once you cast your ballot.
"But as far as voting and Ector County, you know, I think we've done very, very well. You know you haven't heard any of those national concerns," Stanley said.
