By News and Internal Communications
By Tawny Turner
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – Do you have five minutes? Because that is how long it takes to early vote at UTRGV.
The university is hosting early voting polling sites on both the Brownsville and Edinburg campuses, to give students and the Rio Grande Valley community a chance to participate in the Nov. 8 general election.
Locations and times follow:
Brownsville Interdisciplinary Academic Building Lobby
- Monday, Oct. 24 to Friday, Oct. 28 from 9 a.m. to 7p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 5p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 31 to Friday, Nov. 4 from 8a.m. to 8p.m.
Edinburg Student Academic Center Lobby
- Monday, Oct. 24 to Saturday, Oct. 29 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 4p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 31 to Friday, Nov. 4 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Early voting on campus is open to the public.
When you vote at a UTRGV campus site, you will need a valid government-issued ID. All those registered in Cameron County can vote at the Brownsville Campus, while those registered in Hidalgo County can vote at the Edinburg Campus.
Naomi Valdez, program coordinator for Student Activities and adviser for the Civic Engagement Alliance, said UTRGV is one of few schools in the country to receive additional funding for early voting.
“The Civic Engagement Alliance is excited to be part of a larger initiative to get young people to vote early and participate in the democratic process,” she said. “It was amazing to see the support we received from administrators to apply for the grant and move forward with our plans to engage UTRGV students in early voting.”
More than 20,000 UTRGV students are registered to vote, Valdez said.
“In the 2020 election, UTRGV had a registration rate of 78 percent of our students and 71 percent of those registered students voted in 2020. We want to surpass that number this election,” she said.
The UTRGV Civic Engagement Alliance is a student organization that strives to increase political awareness and participation among the UTRGV community through voter registration, on campus voting sites, political and civic education, and other various forms of engagement.
Alondra Vela, a freshman hospitality and tourism major and vice president of the alliance, said the advantage of early voting is ease of access and convenience, and voting at any point in the process is critical.
“Voting allows individuals to have an opinion and have their voices heard about what they think is best for Texas,” she said.
Students who need assistance with voting, registration or politics in general can contact CEA offices on either campus for help, she said.
For more information on CEA, visit utrgv.edu/studentactivities/civic-engagement/
ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.
