Editor,
Michael Clarke’s Letter to the Editor last Sunday (Turning voters away at the polls is unacceptable) raises an important issue and a few questions. As usual, these things are rarely as simple as they seem. I don’t know where the “official list” of eligible voters from Hays County comes from, but I assume it is based on where the person last registered to vote. A student may not have lived in the county the prior year, or may have not even voted if elections weren’t held the prior year.
Let’s say a student from Dallas, St. Louis or Chicago wants to vote in the Texas election. If so, they should be given a voter registration change form in their school registration packet to mail in. Then they would be on the list. Or perhaps they would rather vote for their own State Representative in Dallas, Governor in Missouri, or the U.S. Senator in Illinois. In that case they should be reminded at registration to request an absentee ballot from “back home” while away at college. It is then their responsibility to follow through.
