Can Texas Democrats count on the college vote during the pandemic

Austin American-Statesman, Asher Price:

“It’s incredibly difficult to register people during pandemic,” said Catherine Wicker, who heads up a nonpartisan voter registration effort launched by Texas State. A lot of students aren’t on campus, and those who are “won’t approach your registration table as much because of COVID.”

Normally, student organizations would set up voter information booths outside dining halls or on the campus quad. But now, dining halls aren’t open, and the quad is relatively empty.

Wicker says she has asked student organizations whether she might appear as a guest at their virtual meetups to quickly walk them through ways to register and vote.

Wicker and Maya Patel, state coordinator of the Campus Vote Project, who just completed a degree at UT, said many students are in San Marcos and Austin, even if they are not on campus.

“A lot of students who were living off campus had to sign leases way before the pandemic started, so I know many students who still decided to go back to Austin and live in their apartment (and will probably stay even if UT shuts down) since they have to pay rent anyways,” Patel said

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