The University’s primary polling location will move to the Texas Union for the November presidential election due to planned construction of the Flawn Academic Center, according to a University spokesperson.
The University hasn’t finalized a start date for construction. UT may also move the polling location to the Union for the long-term, a University spokesperson said. The second voting location will remain at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.
“Voting locations on the UT campus have evolved over the years to balance public participation in the voting process with the University’s operations,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Maggie DiSanza, the Austin advocacy & field organizer of Texas Rising, said she initially heard about the change during a coalition meeting with the county clerk. She said she informed other UT organizations of the news during a Civic Engagement Coalition call. Shortly after, University Democrats President Brian Peña and the vice president notified the Commissioner’s Court.
Other student organizations promoting voter registration, including Texas Votes, Texas Rising and Turning Point USA’s UT chapter all voiced some level of concern the location change could impact voter turnout but do not consider it an act of voter suppression.
Peña said the University Democrats believe consistency in voting locations is important, especially when voters might be visiting the polls several times in a given year.
“We understand things happen, and we are not trying to claim that this is a vicious attempt to stagger voting,” Peña said. “But the reality of the fact is that it has some serious potential to confuse folks and just really throw off the logistics of how such an active polling place like the FAC operates.”
Travis County polling locations have not been officially announced. Sarah Batson, program coordinator for TX Votes, said she expects the county clerk will propose a list of locations to the Commissioner’s Court in October, closer to Election Day. The court will then vote to approve the list.
She said Texas Rising is in conversations with the county clerk to ensure the Union has enough polling machines. The University expects the Union will have comparable capacity across early voting and election day, said the UT spokesperson.
Peña said the FAC had upward of four hour-long waits during the 2022 midterm elections. He said he wishes UT notified the University Democrats and other civic engagement groups of the change earlier.
“At this point we understand that the FAC is just not going to happen this year,” Peña said. “We just really hope that it’s returned in future elections, because we really do think it’s the perfect polling place for UT Austin.”
Andrew McKiernan, president of Turning Point USA’s UT chapter, said he thinks the change in polling locations would have resonated better if the University had shown more transparency.
DiSanza and other organization leaders said they hope the University works to inform students of the location change. She said Texas Rising plans to spread awareness about the change on social media, through classroom presentations and by tabling outside of the Union and FAC.
“It’s the responsibility of UT,” DiSanza said. “They scheduled construction for the FAC during an election season, they (should) do the pro-voter education work of investing money and time and resources into making sure that UT students, faculty and staff know that the new location is at the Union.”
