Banning polling places at Texas universities is bad politics

If there’s one factor we all know we’d like, it’s extra folks voting. And we particularly want younger people who find themselves going to inherit this nation’s future to be concerned.

It’s baffling then why state Rep. Carrie Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, filed House Bill 2390 final week to ban polling places at Texas universities and faculties. Isaac promotes the invoice as addressing campus security. If you imagine that, you may not be prepared for Politics 101.

The invoice as a substitute seems to discriminate in opposition to college students for assumed political preferences. When a political celebration goes out of its method to forestall folks from voting, the motive turns into clear.

Mass shootings are a terror plaguing this nation.

And Isaac told KBTX-TV in Bryan that “all schools are target-rich environments.” That sadly may be true. But in a rustic awash in nearly completely unregulated firearms, few public areas are secure anymore, from the dance corridor, to the church home to the playground.

Gathering to vote is an inherently public act. And faculties and universities, usually with their very own police forces, have been used as polling places for a very long time.

Isaac might have simply as simply chosen fireplace stations or libraries as “target-rich environments.” So why the native college? If you guessed it’s as a result of some within the GOP fear concerning the affect of youthful voters, you handed the check.

If politicians wish to persuade younger voters to vote for his or her celebration, they should do the work to make the case for his or her insurance policies, to attach with younger voters in ways in which resonate. Instead, the plan right here seems to be to close them down.

No one doubts that many universities lean left, and that college tilt liberal. But banning voting on campuses is a pathetic method to throw within the towel. Not solely does it sign the GOP received’t even try to curiosity younger folks, nevertheless it additionally suppresses the vote of a inhabitants of people that usually reside on or round campus.

We lamented final election cycle about the necessity to preserve children out of colleges on Election Day. It’s an unlucky however mandatory transfer to make sure Okay-12 colleges are safe. The reply in that case wasn’t to cease voting at colleges altogether.

And perhaps that’s the answer. Keep faculties and universities open as polling places, however give college students the time off from courses as a security measure. But then, they’d have extra time on their fingers that they may use to go vote. And wouldn’t that be a disgrace?

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