Prairie View, TX - Oct. 24, 2018 —Throughout the years, Prairie View A&M University students have faced injustices and obstacles when it comes to voting within Waller county. Students have marched - led by former SGA President, Priscilla Barbour, to fight for the right to vote on campus. The most recent plight against students' voting rights was a rumor that students would be turned away from voting. To keep students informed with the correct information, I reached out to the Elections Administrator for Waller County, Christy Eason.

While speaking with her, she was able to clarify the misunderstanding of placing some students in the wrong precinct. In 2016, many students were registered to vote and informed to use the 700 University Drive address if they lived in the campus dorms. However, it is now known that this address is an actual residential address for the City of Prairie View, which holds a different precinct, 310. The Prairie View A&M University campus' precinct is 309. These precincts determine voting locations; those under 309 can vote on campus, while others in 310 have a voting location at Prairie View City Hall. During the recent Primary Elections, this discrepancy was found. Eason stated, "In the Primary election, we had found that some of the students were registered in precinct 309, which is the university's precinct. But then some of them were also registered in 310, which is the city's voting block."

Eason then went to the drawing board to find a solution, "We have to find a way to get all of those registered in precinct 310 back to 309. Anyone with 700 University Drive as their physical address will be allowed to vote, "no one will be turned away."

Those students with 700 University Drive will need to fill out an address change form at the voting polls. This address change form will place students in the correct precinct for the campus, 309. Students who will be newly registering to vote are encouraged to use the correct physical address for their respective dorm on campus.

Early Voting in the Willie A. Tempton Memorial Student Center October 29th - 31st 8 am-5 pm

Election Day in the Willie A. Tempton Memorial Student Center November 6th, 7 am - 7 pm.

*This article was previously published online for The Panther Newspaper.