Texas House bill 2390, introduced on Thursday, Feb. 16, would ban the placement of polling locations on college campuses, including Texas A&M.
According to the bill, Texas county commissioners courts would be prohibited from designating a polling location on an “institution of higher education” as defined by Section 61.003 of the education code. If passed, this would apply to all public junior colleges and all general academic teaching institutions, that is, all state funded universities. The bill was authored by District 72 Representative Carrie Isaac, according to the Texas Legislature website.
The filling of this bill comes nearly a month after District 49 Representative Gina Hinojosa authored Texas House bill 644 on Jan. 14. Under Hinojosa’s bill, county commissioners courts would be required to designate a polling location on state funded colleges and universities campus with a student population of over 8,000.
If House bill 2390 were to pass, The Brazos County Commissioners Court would not be allowed to select the Memorial Student Center, or MSC, on A&M’s campus as a polling place. While voting locations for 2023 have not yet been selected, Precinct 3 Commissioner Nancy Berry has previously voiced support for redesignating the MSC as an early voting location for 2023 following the court’s decision to remove the MSC as an early voting location for the November 2022 elections.
Neither bill 2390 or bill 644 have been selected for consideration by any committee, according to The Texas legislature. Both bills would take effect Sept. 1, 2023, if signed by Gov. Greg Abbott after passing through the Texas House and Senate.
Editor’s Note: The original publication incorrectly stated that Texas House bill 644 was filled on Feb. 17. Bill 644 was filled on Jan. 17 and the error has been corrected.
