‘VOTEXAS’ educates student voters (Photo by John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)
Roger Williams, Texas Secretary of State, visited campus yesterday as part of the year-long VOTEXAS voter education program.
“I’m glad to be here at SMU [to talk] about the most aggressive voter education program in state history,” Williams told a group gathered in front of Dallas Hall.
Williams said he hopes the campaign will help increase voter participation – especially among the youngest group of voters, ages 18 to 24.
“We don’t have enough voters going to the polls, and in 2004 only 5 percent of voters in Texas were 18 to 24,” Williams said.
President Gerald Turner said there are 13,000 eligible voters on the SMU campus including students, staff and faculty and he wants the university to have greater participation from those people.
Williams agreed, saying that he has a personal goal of getting between 30 and 40 percent more college-aged people out to vote.
“They are the future of our state and we can do better,” Williams said.
The VOTEXAS initiative goes throughout 2006, and its goal is to inform the public about changes to the voting process.
Williams said Texas is the only state with such a campaign, adding that the idea for the program was drawn up inside the Secretary of State’s office.
The state is spending $5 million on VOTEXAS.
“We’ve gotten a great reaction so far, going everywhere from campuses to businesses,” Williams said of the VOTEXAS tour.
This campaign is in response to the rollout of the Help America Vote Act, which was signed into law by President Bush after voting problems in the 2000 presidential election.
Williams called HAVA the “greatest act in the past 40 years” and it should help change election behavior.
Some counties, like Dallas County, already have electronic voting machines.
However, most counties across the state are in the process of replacing punch cards and optical scan voting systems.”The machines have gone through a tough process to insure they are fair and reliable,” Williams said.
After the speech, Williams helped demonstrate how to use the new machines with SMU students looking on.
He said that in the same amount of time it takes to get a drink from a coffee shop, people could easily cast a vote on the machines.
“This system will move Texas into the 21st century, but we need all of you to get involved because this will be your state,” Williams told the students.
Members of the VOTEXAS team, along with the VOTEEXAS bus, were also on hand to answer questions and hand out t-shirts, pens and information pamphlets.
VOTEXAS is already airing television commercials on local stations and will expand to radio and other forms of media as the March primary elections near. The initiative’s Web site is up and can be accessed at www.votexas.org.
‘VOTEXAS’ educates student voters (Photo by John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)
