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Software engineering sophomore Erick Noecker, left, software engineering senior Liam Crowley, center, and civil engineering junior Brooklynn Nguyen bike during Roll to the Polls on Oct. 23 outside the Maverick Activities Center. Ngyuen said he goes to a lot of the rides Walkable Arlington hosts.<\/p>\n
Photo by Maricela Gonzales<\/a><\/p>\n This year, voting requires more planning than in previous elections.<\/p>\n Because \u2014 for the second year in a row \u2014 the Maverick Activities Center has been cut as a voting location, and many are looking for an alternative. The site\u2019s absence came from a Sept. 1 Tarrant County Commissioners Court decision to cut voting sites.<\/p>\n The closest voting location to UTA is the Tarrant County<\/p>\n Sub-Courthouse in Arlington on Abram Street. For people with cars, the trip is three minutes from campus; for others, it was a 30-minute walk.<\/p>\n The decrease in voting locations, and high voter turnout, is creating longer lines for those who make it to the polls.<\/p>\n Below are short passages detailing UTA students\u2019 and Arlington residents\u2019 early voting experiences.<\/p>\n Marketing senior Marcel Mneimne said he knew the voting site at the MAC was removed and was upset by the decision, describing voting as a civic duty and a right.<\/p>\n He said he took one of the free transportation services to the courthouse after seeing a sign for it on campus. Although he has a car and could have voted without the service, he said he has friends who don\u2019t have that privilege.<\/p>\n Mneimne said traveling off campus creates barriers for students without cars and people with disabilities who need accessible transportation. Though he believed those challenges could negatively affect student turnout, he said, he praised the services that are in place.<\/p>\n \u201cThe buses have been a great resource,\u201d Mneimne said.<\/p>\n Mneimne said UTA should have provided a route to the polls, similar to its MavMover route to Walmart.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said he believes the university\u2019s responsibilities extend beyond education and should be helping students become active members of society, including making it easier for students to vote.<\/p>\n Mechanical engineering senior Obehi Ofeinmun said her friend drove her to the courthouse since she doesn\u2019t have a car. She said she waited about eight minutes to cast her ballot, but it took more planning than in 2024, when she could walk to the MAC.<\/p>\n Without her friend, Ofeinmun said she would have considered walking, asking someone else for a ride or using one of the free transportation services to the polls. However, morning classes and a job limited her availability.<\/p>\n She said the removal of the MAC voting site could discourage students who are already on campus and do not want to add another trip to their day to vote.<\/p>\n Ofeinmun said UTA could expand and better advertise transportation efforts already organized by students.<\/p>\n Her determination to vote comes from being in a family of immigrants and wanting her younger sisters to have educational and career opportunities, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Voting allows her to advocate for a future where they can attend college and build a future.<\/p>\n Walkable Arlington President Liam Crowley, along with two others, biked to the courthouse Oct. 23.<\/p>\n The bike ride was organized as part of Walkable Arlington\u2019s Roll to the Polls event. Crowley, the event planner, said he had a feeling the MAC would not be available as a voting location for the midterms, so he already had intentions of voting at the courthouse.<\/p>\n While he hasn\u2019t had any issues voting at the courthouse, Crowley said the MAC was a convenient location for him to vote in previous elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much of a line. I showed them my ID. I voted. I kept on with my day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Students board a van to be transported to a voting site Oct. 21 outside the University Center. The service, hosted by the Victory Coalition and UTA\u2019s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, provided free transportation to help students get to the polls.<\/p>\n Photo by General Mason Starks<\/a><\/p>\n Arlington resident Jeannette Zimmerman, 40, said she waited around 20 minutes to vote, less than the 30-minute estimate she saw on the app.<\/p>\n She said she lives a mile or two from the courthouse and has voted there the past five or six years. This was the first election in which she saw a line to vote, she said.<\/p>\n Despite the wait, she was determined to vote. If the line had been too long, she said she would have driven to another polling location.<\/p>\n She praised election workers for clear communication and keeping the line moving in the past.<\/p>\n Having previously voted at the MAC, she said removing the location can create inconveniences, particularly for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n Alex Rittenhouse\u2019s, sustainable urban design junior, first time voting was during the 2024 presidential election; she did not vote on campus. During the primaries last year, she did not use the MAC as a polling site again; instead, she went to the courthouse in Arlington.<\/p>\n Due to the wait times at the courthouse during the primaries, Rittenhouse said she planned to vote at the MAC during the Nov. 3 midterms this year. This was not an option that was afforded to her.<\/p>\n Rittenhouse said she knew she\u2019d have to go off campus to vote, and although the courthouse isn\u2019t too far, it would require a little more planning.<\/p>\n She said the convenience of the center\u2019s location to students may have compelled more students to vote in the past, and that the voting site\u2019s removal was unfortunate.<\/p>\n \u201cI would go out and vote either way, even if the nearest voting site was an hour away, but a lot of students wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Rittenhouse said.<\/p>\n A yard sign is displayed Oct. 23 outside the Maverick Activities Center. The MAC was removed as a voting location for the midterm election.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by Emmanuel Pizano<\/a><\/p>\n Computer science sophomore Uchechukwu Anaghara walked 30 minutes to the courthouse on Oct. 25. He had initially planned to visit the MAC.<\/p>\n \u201cI know in the previous years, it was an active site,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I heard that it wasn\u2019t, so I was like, \u2018Where do I vote now?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Anaghara said he planned to vote earlier in the day, but getting out of bed was a challenge. He said he told himself, \u201cI have to do it now because I\u2019m not going to do it over the weekdays.\u201d<\/p>\n That now-or-never mindset might deter other students who want to participate in this election, Anaghara said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes it a little harder to work into your day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Arlington resident Jazmin Gutierrez, 30, works as a teacher in Dallas. Due to the long wait times at polling locations near her in Arlington, she pushed voting off until the weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cThis whole week I kept saying \u2018I\u2019m going to vote\u2019 and then I would check the wait times and it would be 45 minutes, 120 minutes,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re getting off work at 6 o\u2019clock, you don\u2019t want to spend two hours waiting in the line.\u201d<\/p>\n The East Library Recreation Center in Arlington is the voting site Gutierrez typically uses, she said, but it was unavailable during early voting. She said her next option would have been UTA, but that was also unavailable.<\/p>\n She said the reduction in voting sites can feel disheartening.<\/p>\n \u201cWanting to vote, yes, is there, but when you know that you\u2019re going to have to dedicate an hour to standing in the line,\u201d she said, \u201cit\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be this hard to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n @tay._.sansom dxc1733@mavs.uta.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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