Ellie Perrier

As the Texas presidential primaries approach, organizations both on and off campus have been working at Trinity to educate and register students to vote. Though many of these organizations operate year-round, their presence on campus has changed to focus on the elections taking place in March.
MOVE (Mobilize, Organize, Vote and Empower) Texas is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization focused on registering and engaging Texas voters. The local MOVE chapter tables weekly at Trinity and hosts informational sessions. Nina Pollak, sophomore political science and international business double-major, is the president of MOVE Texas Trinity, a youth-focused organization with professional directors. Pollak remarked that, with the primary voter registration deadline passing on Feb. 5, MOVE shifted to focus on education about the primary election process and its significance.
“That kind of month-period is where MOVE really emphasizes the informational aspect … of the primaries, getting people informed, how to vote, where to vote — issues they want to know about, so it’s, it’s a really big … educational season,” Pollak said.
Other Trinity students are engaging in work on campus surrounding the upcoming elections. Kiara Fernando, sophomore human resource management major, works as a democracy fellow on campus for her fourth semester. As a democracy fellow, Fernando operates under the Dean of Students office, educating students, registering them to vote and increasing civic engagement. Efforts by the democracy fellows are being made to continue or even surpass Trinity’s high voter registration rate records. In 2020, Trinity had 93.3% of voting-eligible students register to vote and a 75.6% voting rate, exceeding the national institutional average of a 66% voting rate. Trinity has had a 22.9% increase in its voting rate since 2016 according to the 2020 National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement 2020 Campus Report.
“So those are the numbers we have to beat, and getting students engaged with the primaries is a great kind of lead-up to get engaged with the actual election,” Fernando said. “It also makes them feel like they have some sort of say over the candidates that are going on.”
Fernando has helped register students to vote through tabling, social media and large collaborative events like informational events thrown on the Esplanade the past two semesters. She expressed that her main goals were to register, educate and empower voters.
“For the past two semesters, we’ve done a big event on the Esplanade. We’ve had free pizza and snow cones and popcorn. We partner with SGA and SPB, give away free prizes. We also partner with American Indians of Texas, which is an outside organization, and the League of Women Voters, another outside organization, and get to register to vote,” Fernando said.
The main goal of the League of Women Voters representatives tabling in Coates Student Center on Feb. 2 was to register students to vote before the Feb. 5 deadline for the primary presidential election. Nicole Lehmann, co-chair of youth voter outreach for the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area, remarked that their outreach events have noticed a general confusion.
“And so that’s where we’re really pushing, is explaining how the primaries are the only time you’re gonna go in, and you have to choose the Democratic or Republican ticket and that you’re actually voting — a lot of people have President on the mind — but that you have local judges, representatives — here’s a lot that you’re voting for — and that you are trying to choose the best candidate who’s going to then go on the ballot in November to go against the opposing party,” Lehmann said.