Election day is less than seven weeks away and KAGS is making sure voters are informed about how they can do their civic duty.
Voter registration might look a little different this year but it is still happening.
You might have seen voter registrations at protests or on campus.
“Voter registration drives are when you have a group that’s sending out registrars to get people who are not registered to vote to vote,” said Texas A&M History Professor Jonathan Coopersmith.
Basically, registrars are those people with the clipboards who’ve trained with the Texas Secretary of State.
Even after that training there’s still safeguards in place for those concerned about fraud.
“You can’t be paid for how many people you register to vote. Because that may inadvertently serve as an incentive to forge registrations,” Professor Coopersmith said.
So let’s say you go to a registration drive and fill out a voter registration form?
What happens next?
“When you register a new voter in Texas, you have to give that person a receipt, and you’re supposed to keep that duplicate receipt when you turn in the registration form,” said Coopersmith.
After you register with a registrar, they turn in your information, and all you have to do is keep your receipt and wait for you voter registration certificate in the mail.
You get a new voter registration certificate sent to you every two years.
If you move out of your county you have to register again.
For Aggies living on campus who are thinking about registering, Professor Coopersmith advises to weigh the options.
He said an advantage to registering at your family home is that it will be a fixed address you will not have to change.
“The advantage of registering here, is that you’re more involved in local politics,” he said, “[the] main thing is that you register in someplace someplace and that you inform yourself about who you want to vote for.”
The last day Texans can register to vote is October 5, 2020.