What are TX Votes and the Civic Engagement Alliance?
TX Votes is a student organization at the University of Texas at Austin that invites students, campus-wide, to increase electoral participation and create more voters and better citizens. Each election cycle, TX Votes, in partnership with the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, organizes and coordinates Get Out the Vote activities including registration booths, deputization sessions, and campus competitions. During off election years, TX Votes educates the UT community and engages in respectful and civil discourse on important issues.
The Civic Engagement Alliance is a non-partisan coalition of over 90 student organizations, which TX Votes brings together to increase civic engagement on campus. CEA members bring back what they learn from the CEA to their own organizations to talk about what being civically engaged looks like for their own communities. The CEA also coordinates large campus
events that promote voter engagement, like 2018’s VoteFest and the annual Last Night to Register to Vote celebrations.
Through these two programs, we act as the nonpartisan voice of civic engagement on our campus. We are a reliable and responsible group that students, faculty, and administrators alike look to as civic engagement leaders who willingly bring all students’ voices to the table.
Why Should You Support This Project?
Civic engagement in the state of Texas is abysmal, but following the 2018 midterm, there is real moment moving forward for young people. Research shows that individuals need to start voting at a young age if they are to create a habit of voting. Students at the University of Texas represent communities across the state that will benefit from increased voter turnout in the future. In addition, many voters lack the information they need to vote and do not know who or what to turn to in order to get that information. We want to be considered a trusted source that will provide nonpartisan information that especially relates to UT students. Lastly, the students who participate in TX Votes walk away with skills, experiences, and connections that will help them in their future. We want to be able to provide this opportunity to all students who are interested in joining TX Votes.
What Will You Be Funding as a Donor?
The money we raise as an organization sustains the work we do every year. Those who donate through TX Votes ambassadors will support programs like our Tech & Politics series and Elected Officials Speaker series. It also supports our day-to-day needs, like clipboards and other materials we needed for registering students in over 260 classrooms to vote in 2018. Those who donate through CEA ambassadors will support large events that include many CEA members. Those events include the Last Day to Register to Vote Celebration, where well over 1,300 students were registered to vote in just one way, and VoteFest, which brought musicians, tacos, and pizza to campus to encourage students to find their way to their polling locations.
Thank you! Without your help, none of our success could be possible!