Nearly a dozen students gathered at Kerbey Lane Cafe at 6 a.m. Tuesday for coffee, breakfast tacos and early voting.

TX Votes, a student organization that focuses on helping people with the voting process, held a Breakfast and Ballots event on the first day of early voting. Following breakfast, TX Votes members walked with students to the Flawn Academic Center to cast their ballots for the Democratic and Republican primaries in Texas. 

TX Votes aims to help people with the voting process regardless of political affiliation or ideology, said TX Votes President Anthony Zhang. Zhang, a chemistry and public health junior, said the organization has never endorsed any ideology or candidate.

“I feel like a lot of nonpartisan organizations will sometimes endorse candidates or clearly push an (ideology),” Zhang said. “We generally have more sway (than them) because we are sponsored by The Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the Moody College of Communication, so professors have grown to know our name and brand.”

At the beginning of the semester, TX Votes focused on helping and encouraging UT students to register to vote for the upcoming primary elections by going to classrooms and tabling, Zhang said. TX Votes is now hosting events to get students to the voting booths, Zhang said. 

Government freshman Leland Murphy said the work that TX Votes does is important because registration can be confusing for first-time voters and the process of getting to vote can be bureaucratic.

“For first-time (voters), I would just reassure them that it can be hard, but it’s very important that you do it.” said Murphy, “I am a first-time voter, too, and it’s okay to ask people to make sure everything is okay.”

Selina Eshraghi, a chemical engineering and radio-television-film junior, said she has been involved with TX Votes initiatives and appreciates the effort that TX Votes makes to remind students about voting. 

“(Students) are so busy with school, applying for internships, figuring out who we are … there is so much on our minds that sometimes (voting) slips our minds,” Eshraghi said. “TX Votes definitely makes it something that is on everyone’s mind around campus.”

In the upcoming weeks, Zhang said TX Votes plans on tabling every day to inform people about the information on their voting ballots. 

“At the end of the day, all (the organization) wants is to help students become well-rounded, functional members of their community,” Eshragi said.