Students march to polls for voting rights

Prairie View A&M University students made history again Oct. 23 by marching to the Prairie View Community Center in hopes of regaining their on-campus voting rights.

"Voting is a way of expressing our thoughts, views and how we feel on everyday situations," said Jemiah Richards, a senior accounting major. "We wanted to alert the campus on the importance of voting and push for early voting being that this is an important election because it's a presidential election year."

After previous marches, meetings with county officials, and court filings, Waller County officials continue to deny students the right to hold a polling place in the Memorial Student Center. In the 1992 presidential election between William "Bill" Clinton and George H.W. Bush voting polls were available for students in the Baby Dome but since then, the county has decided the community center was more convenient for Prairie View.

"We wanted to expose Waller [County] and let them know we do need polls on campus," said Richards.

Richards and his colleagues agreed that it was necessary to push early voting to ensure that as many students as possible had an opportunity to vote and an estimated 1,000 votes were cast Thursday, the highest count total of any vote location throughout Waller County.

"There are still about 2,000 registered and qualified students who have not voted and it's important that they do," said Judge Dewayne Charleston.

The march, dubbed the "Ape Walk," was spearheaded by the Eta Gamma Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and was supported by the Student Government Association, Young Democrats, The Pan-Hellenic Council, Sodexo, DSF Entertainment and Rap-A-Lot Records. The walk was deemed necessary because students and leaders of the community felt this year's presidential election was the best opportunity to reach out to the students and hopefully Waller County on the importance of young voters.

"I think it was important to march to show that we, as students, care about who is elected and to show that we are capable of making a change," said Justin Knowles, a sophomore nursing major. "It was good to show that my race and generation isn't as lazy as everyone thinks."

Texas A&M University students are able to vote on campus and also have the opportunity to do early voting for 10 days and Prairie View students have only three days to vote at the Community Center.

"PV students should never accept less than what A&M has in all areas of college life," said Charleston. "They think PV students are going to be oblivious to what happened and not do anything."

Prior to the march, the organizations hosted a Dorm Blast Off and caravanned that morning.