As Texas midterm elections are coming up, students have been getting involved with voter registration and deciding who will be their election candidate.
In September, there was a voting booth placed in the campus center. Through the Student Government Association, this booth has given students a place to register to vote.
Tamil Kayode-adele, freshman criminal justice major from Midland, said she is impressed by the impact the booth has made on students.
“We’ve been going for two weeks and we got over 100 people which is really impressive and that’s not even counting the people who are already registered to vote,” Kayode-adele said. “We are also sending out emails and having them fill out QR codes where we are going to remind them ‘hey, the booths are open.'”
To some students, the biggest deciding factor for governor candidates this election is their view on abortion laws. Dillion Little, junior agriculture major from Colleyville, said he plans on voting for the current governor, Greg Abbott, for this reason.
“I’m a one-issue voter,” Little said. “If someone in the republican party doesn’t stand in direct opposition to abortion then I’m sorry I’m not voting for you. A lot of people ask me ‘what are you? conservative, republican, democrat?’ and I say no, I’m Christian.”
Julia Perry, senior communication disorders major from Flower Mound, said she’s voting for Beto O’Rourke to see a change in state policies, especially in her aspiring career field.
“There’s been a couple of things that Abbott has done in terms of impacting the field of communication sciences disorders, in terms of lowering the number of people that can go into special education programs in schools and who qualify for disabilities,” Perry said. “Additionally, I don’t necessarily agree with his policies on abortion and I believe in a women right to choose even if that’s not my choice.”
Across campus, there has not been any campaigning for a candidate, which differs from the past. Little recalled this difference from his freshman year during the 2020 presidential election, where students were public about campaigning.
“I feel like it’s not as present this year because it’s a gubernatorial election,” Little said. “I don’t necessarily want to be walking up the steps to the library and see whatever the new slogan is.”
Texas experienced some of the lowest numbers in voter turnout, in the past, especially in the college-age bracket so the ACU student body is not the only group in the state hoping to get more students to the polls.
Bryson Frank, sophomore political science major from Plano, said he encourages voting with his peers to change this statistic whether they are voting red or blue.
“Since we have so many people we should be mobilizing those people to express their voice,” Frank said. “If you don’t express your voice and what you want to see then you’ll only hurt yourself, cause you see people that you do or don’t want to be in power.”
