An effort to prohibit voting on public school and higher education campuses unless they are completely closed during voting appears to be failing, but critics still see it as an attempt to make it harder for college students to vote.  

HB 3144 targets sections 43.031(a) and (e) of the Texas Election Code explicitly banning campus-based polling sites unless operations are suspended. Additionally, the bill clarifies that a "public building" refers to structures owned or controlled by the state or political subdivisions.

This would not only prevent voting at college campuses, like University of Texas at Arlington, which Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare proposed last fall, but also at public schools unless they are closed for the day.    

The proposed poll closures could impact more than 60,000 voters, disproportionately affecting Black and Hispanic voters, according to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In Tarrant County, there are about 274,309 people who born between 1995 and 2006.

“Regardless of the percentage or demographic of voters that vote in an election, that demographic should never be regarded as not as important,” said Don Bentley III, president of UTA’s NAACP chapter.

Students at UTA who protested the attempt to block campus polling in the fall said they weren’t surprised about the bill.

House Bill 3144 was introduced by Rep. Carrie Isaac, R-Wimberly. The requirement that all activity be suspended could be a hurdle for Election Day sites and prohibitive for early voting sites. 

The League of Women Voters of Texas declined to comment directly on HB 3144 at this time, noting the bill’s early legislative status.

"The bill has just been referred to committee and may or may not get a hearing," said Elisabeth MacNamara, advocacy chair for the LWV of Texas. "At this stage in the proceedings, it would be difficult to comment on the impact."