The 2024 presidential election is approaching quickly, so the time to register to vote is nearing an end. Voters have the option of voting at the polls, in person or sending in their ballot by mail. The deadline still varies from state to state, so students need to be aware of their home state’s deadline.
The deadline for Texas voter registration is Oct. 7, 2024. Early voting is open on Oct. 21 and is set to run through Nov. 1. Election day is Nov. 5, 2024.
“This is a right that they [students] are just given,” Shannon Lackey, Randall County elections administrator, said. “I don’t consider it a duty. I don’t consider it a responsibility. I consider it a privilege. That’s why I would encourage everyone to cast a ballot, and for every election. Not just these presidential elections. They are very important. However, our cities and schools [elections] that will be happening in May that impacts your day-to-day life.”
Dr. Piper Biery, assistant professor of political science at West Texas A&M University, had something similar to add that students might keep in mind when voting.
“We’re coming up on a really big election, voting for the President of the United States,” Biery said. “That’s the thing that everyone feels like they care about the most. But a lot of the things that are actually going to impact our students’ daily lives is not who the next president is, but who’s serving on the school boards, and who’s serving on city councils, and those kinds of things.”
Students can get registered to vote in a few different ways.
“In Texas, you do have to have your initial voter registration be ink on paper,” Lackey said. “Students have options; they can register to vote right here in Randall County, regardless of what they consider their home county or even their home state. They can obtain a voter registration application at my office here at 1604 5th Avenue. They can go to votetexas.gov and print one off, sign it, and drop it off in person or mail it. Or they can find one on our website, which is randallvote.com. If you are registered at your home county and you want to remain registered there, that’s absolutely fine. However, you need to call your local elections office and request a mail ballot application.”
For voting in any election, researching the different candidates can help individuals make informed decisions. Students are no exception.
“One of the easiest websites you can use for research is Ballotpedia,” Biery said. “It will actually show you not just candidates but also initiatives, referendums, amendments to the Texas Constitution. These kinds of things will also be there. Ballotpedia is nonpartisan. They’re just trying to give you a basic outline of what is going on. But there are also other organizations like the League of Women Voters, for example, also nonpartisan, that tries to provide a more robust understanding of what’s on different ballots. And do some Google sleuthing would be my primary recommendation.”
For students looking to get registered in Randall County, there are multiple polling stations they can go to for both early voting and election-day voting.
“We have early voting locations,” Lackey said. “And there are two of them right here in Canyon, the Justice Center, and my office, as I talked about just a little earlier. We would encourage everyone, if you’ve made your decision, come out and cast your ballot. We have no idea what the weather is going to be like on Nov. 5 or anything else. So I would encourage everyone to vote early, if possible. We have 16 locations in Randall County. Any voter in Randall County can vote at any of them. So if you have a doctor’s appointment in Amarillo, and you’re driving back to Canyon, and you see a vote here sign that’s in Randall County, you can cast a ballot there. Our goal is consistency and convenience for the voter.”
