{"id":942,"date":"2016-10-31T19:46:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T19:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=942"},"modified":"2016-10-31T19:46:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T19:46:58","slug":"tstc-voter-registration-exceeds-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=942","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Voter Registration Exceeds Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Texas State Technical College in Harlingen has done it yet again.\u00a0 Student leaders from Student Life and Engagement, with assistance from Student Government Association, recently registered another record number of new voters this election year.<\/p>\n

The TSTC voter registration initiative began in March of 2012 and has since helped register over 2,000 voters.\u00a0 The 2016 movement alone registered 1,043.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received 1,001 new voters four years ago, so we wanted to surpass that,\u201d said Coordinator of Student Orientation and Activities Larissa Moreno.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re a very competitive group of individuals, so I knew we could do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voter turnout in South Texas has been very low in previous elections compared to other parts of the state where eight of 10 residents go to the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly two out of 10 people in\"TSTC<\/a> the Rio Grande Valley vote,\u201d said Roel Gonzalez, New Student Orientation Leader.\u00a0 \u201cWe need to be aware of everything that\u2019s going on in the nation.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to affect all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

To support these efforts, TSTC hosted two debate watch parties in September and October, and also partnered with the Advocacy Alliance Center of Texas (AACT NOW), an organization that focuses on getting people from South Texas to the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sent us a 30-second commercial to show on campus, which helped us reach more people, and also helped us a lot with flyers and signage,\u201d said Moreno.<\/p>\n

Student organizers reminded students that casting a ballot could make a difference for their community, their home and even their college.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because we\u2019re younger and in college doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re any less represented in politics.\u00a0 We need to have our voices heard,\u201d said orientation leader Adriana Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez says educating young voters is one of the keys to making sure that they go out and utilize their right to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be aware about things going on in our society,\u201d said TSTC student Larry Montalvo, who assisted with the initiative.\u00a0 \u201cWe can\u2019t just look the other way.\u00a0 We need to progressively make the strides to make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

TSTC will be a precinct for early voting in Cameron County.\u00a0 Residents can vote in the VIP Room of the Student Center from October 31 through November 4, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Election Day takes place on November 8.<\/p>\n

For more information on New Student Orientation or Student Government Association, visit http:\/\/www.tstc.edu\/campuses\/harlingen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Texas State Technical College in Harlingen has done it yet again.\u00a0 Student leaders from Student Life and Engagement, with assistance from Student Government Association, recently registered another record number of new voters this election year. The TSTC voter registration initiative began in March of 2012 and has since helped register over 2,000 voters.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":944,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions\/944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}