Voting regulations can seem intimidating to inexperienced voters. MOVE Texas offers advice on becoming informed in the upcoming presidential election, and others on campus give anecdotal experiences from inside and outside the ballot box.
“Voting for the first time can be intimidating,” said Bexar County Regional Organizer, Alexandra Brkic.
She works with MOVE Texas and shares information on voting in the San Antonio metropolitan region.
“Texas has 254 areas of voting, or like counties, they all have to abide by the election codes,” said Brkic, “Even within Texas, it is so hyper-local to where you live, like the different rules or the different regulations that are being placed upon you as a voter.”
For first-time voters, or those trying to become more knowledgeable about who they’re voting for, Brkic encourages people to become informed.
“Try to become engaged in baby steps,” said Brkic.
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship president, Ana Martinez, has experience at the polling stations participating in the early voting primaries this past year.
“So I felt kind of bad because I wasn’t really that informed…I had never voted before, so I didn’t know, like, once [you chose] the ballot, you could only vote for one certain party,” said Martinez.
She states she had very little knowledge about most of the candidates.
“I don’t know any of these people, because I only researched, like the ones I had in mind to choose and I couldn’t do that. So I kind of just, like, randomly ended up choosing, which is really bad on me, and I regret it now,” said Martinez.
Jacob Lopez, communications senior and vice president for InterVarsity first voted for the 2020 election when people were required to vote while wearing masks.
Lopez said, “I wasn’t intimidated I would say, but I was kinda confused. I was expecting the presidents to be [listed] but there was a bunch of other stuff under it that I was not expecting.”
The nation’s largest youth voting organization, NextGen, visited A&M-San Antonio’s courtyard for the voting fair on Sept. 17.
Sean Jones is a representative for the organization and states it should take less than five minutes to be registered to vote but finding a location to be registered can be an issue for some.
“When I was 16 I got my driver’s license, and most people just register to vote when they get the driver’s license, but you can’t at 16, so I had to actually find a place to get registered to vote,” said Jones.
A&M-San Antonio will provide polling stations on campus, but there are also three confirmed voting stations within 10 minutes of campus including the Cortez Branch Library and Palo Alto College.
Voting by mail is limited to only those who qualify. Brkic of Move Texas said those with disabilities can request help once they’re at the ballot box.
“Know that you are entitled to assistance when you are voting. People should be able to help you and walk through things,” said Brkic.
Early voting will be available from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1 and Election Day is Nov. 5.
