over 30 students<\/a>, according to previous Shorthorn reporting. <\/p>\nHines Bell said the sense of hopelessness she felt from students regarding the Maverick Activities Center’s absence as a voting site led her and the other organizations to plan the rides to the polls. <\/p>\n
She said that when the site was removed, it felt like students’ voices weren\u2019t being heard. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt spins back to us saying, \u2018If your voice didn\u2019t matter, then they wouldn\u2019t be trying to actively take your polling site,\u2019\u201d Hines Bell said. <\/p>\n
The decision to remove the MAC as a polling location came from a Sept. 1 Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting. The proximity of the center to the courthouse was cited as the reason for the site’s removal. <\/p>\n
Walkable Arlington President Liam Crowley said he has participated in nearly every election since he turned 18. When he could, Crowley used the MAC as his voting site. He said the site was convenient for him. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t much of a line. I showed them my ID. I voted. I kept on with my day,\u201d Crowley said. <\/p>\n
When the MAC was not available for past elections, Crowley said, he biked. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so stressful; the cars were honking,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019ve kind of learned some shortcuts and siders I can do.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mattern said the reduction of the sites \u2014 even if it was only the three compared to the 2022 election \u2014 is creating longer lines for all voters.<\/p>\n
Still, people are sticking it out despite the wait. <\/p>\n
Monday drew 50,409 early voters; Tuesday, 51,018; Wednesday, 48,926; and Thursday \u2013 which saw the lowest turnout throughout the week \u2014 46,364. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re seeing that they\u2019re actively students who manage work, who manage school, who manage life going out and taking that time of their day to wait in those lines to go and vote,\u201d Hines Bell said. <\/p>\n
Mattern said the people showing up to the polls are dedicated voters who show up regardless. Despite the turnout thus far, she said people should not think it\u2019s unnecessary to vote. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single vote is necessary,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t count on the other students to vote and think that they will make the difference. Every voter needs to vote to what their own values are.\u201d <\/p>\n
Early voting for the election continues through Oct. 30. On weekdays, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Sunday, the polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. <\/p>\n
Election Day is Nov. 3. <\/p>\n
@tay._.sansom<\/p>\n
news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People walk outside during early voting Oct. 21 at the Tarrant County Sub-Courthouse in Arlington. Early voting ends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[409,116,118,117,287],"class_list":["post-476050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-election","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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