Waller County Elections Office Denies Rejecting Voter Registrations from Prairie View A&M Students
by Kathy Grear 10/15/2018
By Travis Bubenik, Houston Public Media
“We have absolutely not rejected one voter registration from the campus,” a local election official says.
After concerns spread Tuesday that some college students at Prairie View A&M had their voter registrations rejected, local election officials say that has not happened.
“We have absolutely not rejected one voter registration from the campus,” said Waller County Elections Administrator Christy Eason.
The League of Women Voters of Texas, a voting advocacy group, said it had received unverified reports of local students’ registrations being returned or denied.
Eason said in recent weeks there has been confusion about students who live on campus not having the correct address for their precinct listed on their registrations, but she said the county had not mailed students notices about the issue.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office said it learned a couple weeks ago that students who live in on-campus dorms had been instructed by the university to register with a generic university address, instead of their dorm address. That led to those students being registered in a different precinct than the one their dorms are located in.
Eason, with the local elections office, said despite that situation, any Prairie View A&M student who is registered will be able to vote, though they may have to change their address on election day or beforehand. She said the county is also planning to hold change-of-address events next week.
Secretary of State’s office spokesperson Sam Taylor said students can use the name of their dorm as their residence address, which would put them in the correct precinct.
Taylor said voters can use polling locations in any precinct during early voting, which runs from October 22 to November 2.
Tuesday was the last day to register to vote in Texas. Voters can find out if they are registered here.
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