At its core, TX Votes is a family of political nerds who love voting and pizza. That means that we register thousands of Longhorns to vote and eat an embarrassing amount of pizza.
Each election cycle, TX Votes, sponsored by the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, organizes and coordinates Get Out the Vote activities including classroom voter registration, deputization sessions, and voting celebrations. Over the last few years, we have seen our family grow in both membership and impact on our campus. We are proud to say that as a nonpartisan organization, we have created the UT Civic Engagement Alliance and facilitated UT’s participation in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge and the Campus Vote Project’s Voter Friendly Campus Designation.
The Civic Engagement Alliance is a collaborative nonpartisan effort of over 100 UT Austin organizations and institutes, convened by
TX Votes, to improve voter engagement, as well as other forms of civic engagement, on campus. Participation is very simple:
This collaborative effort has been a huge contributing reason for the improved voter engagement on campus. At UT Austin, we saw voter turnout improve by 15% from 2012 to 2016 and by 37.3% from 2014 to 2018. Collaborative events by CEA organizations take place on campus every year, including the "Last Day to Register to Vote" Celebration, VoteFest, Election Night Watch Parties, and Civics Celebrations. Money raised by CEA members will be used toward CEA events.
It's challenging to not be able to do outreach and register voters in person, as TX Votes has customarily done in the past. However, TX Votes has pivoted to reaching students digitally by creating videos, a newsletter, a website, and social media graphics, all with voting information for students. This summer, students received care packages with information about the July runoff election, COVID-19 resources, and how to be counted in the census. Additionally, TX Votes paid for a service called TurboVote which is a free tool for UT students to start the registration process without a hassle. TX Votes has been busy presenting on voting information to Zoom classrooms, collaborating with other departments, and canvassing fellow students to get out the vote!
Civic engagement in the state of Texas is abysmal, but UT Austin students consistently vote at higher rates than the rest of the state. Texas constantly ranks as one of the lowest states for voter turnout. 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 are a trusted source at UT that provides nonpartisan voter information. 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.
The money raised during the annual TX Votes Hornraiser accounts for 80% of our budget, excluding pay for staff support, which is provided by the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life. Our regular expenses include:
We also plan to invite more speakers to campus. This project will allow us to bring in different members of government - both elected and appointed - to speak with members of the UT community. We hope this, in addition to more civic discourse and government training for TX Votes members, will allow UT students to be more engaged both on campus and in their communities.
TX Votes was originally called UT Votes. It was established in 2004, but became a sponsored student organization, under the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life in 2006.
Approximately 39,770 students have been registered to vote by UT Austin Civic Engagement Alliance organizations since it's creation in 2015.
During the 2019-2020 school year, approximately 8,005 students were registered to vote by TX Votes or at TX Votes' events.
Our goal for UT Austin is 100 percent voter registration and turnout of eligible UT Austin students during all elections.
The number of classrooms TX Votes members presented to and then registered to vote during the 2019-2020 school year.
In 2018, 54.8 percent of UT Austin students turned out to vote. Remarkably, this was a 37.3 percent increase from 2014.
In 2014, only 17.6 percent of UT Austin students turned out to vote. In 2018, that turnout rate improved to 54.8 percent.
In 2016, approximately 4,056 UT Austin freshmen (or first year students) voted.
In 2016, 84 percent of UT Austin's eligible students were registered to vote. This donation would fully fund TX Votes for the 2020-21 school year.