UTA students run voting precinct on Election Day
Desiree Alvarez heard about a lack of election judges for Tarrant County and decided to get involved.
The graduate student in sociology at The University of Texas at Arlington has a passion for community engagement, and she’ll prove it on Election Day. Alvarez is an election judge at a voting site in east Arlington and personally recruited five additional UTA graduate sociology students to serve with her as election clerks.
Their day began at 5 a.m. on Nov. 3, when they put out signs reading “Vote Here” outside the polling site.
“We anticipate being very busy,” Alvarez said. “The bottom line for the entire day is everyone who wants to vote needs to vote.”
The six UTA students working at the precinct are part of the Sociology Student Association. They previously worked together during the runoff election in Tarrant County in July.
“College students don’t have a lot of free time,” Alvarez said. “We want to spend our free time doing something meaningful and impactful. Working a polling location is the perfect job.”
An election judge is responsible for orderly voting at polling stations. Duties include signing in registered voters, explaining voting procedures and turning in all ballots at the end of the night.
Alvarez saw it as an opportunity to fill a need and further her studies in sociology, which focuses on connections among social structures, institutions and people’s lived individual experiences.
Charles Vogel, an election clerk and fellow UTA graduate student in sociology, said younger voters are more engaged in 2020 and turning out to vote and volunteer in larger numbers than normal.
“Political engagement is one of the most important things we can do in a civilized society, and politics are a huge aspect in sociology,” he said. “Every race, class and gender is affected by legislation. If you do not vote, you are letting others decide for you. You can ignore politics, but politics will never ignore you.”
Jennifer Wellman, a fellow election clerk and UTA graduate sociology student, said it’s every citizen’s duty to be an educated voter.
“Government touches every aspect of a person's life,” she said. “We all have a civic duty to understand and participate as much as possible in the election to promote the ideals of democracy.”
Classmate Tanner Strawbridge said voting is a crucial tool for enacting change.
“I’m so proud that the UT Arlington Sociology Student Association could help, even if it is only one precinct,” Strawbridge said. “Hopefully, this will be the start of a new tradition for us. As we continue, I hope we can organize workers for more precincts.”
Alvarez thinks that working as an election judge is an opportunity to step out of her comfort zone and do something different.
“Our professors at UT Arlington have nurtured that curiosity in us and encouraged us,” she said. “The importance of having a high-quality school like UTA in our backyard -- I’m really grateful for that. I like looking at the world from a sociological perspective, and I am enjoying that I get to hone that at UT Arlington with the freedom to explore all kinds of options.”