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From
Activism to the Polls: Student Turnout in the 2005
Election on Constitutional Amendment 2
Marti
Bier
LBJ
School of Public Affairs
University
of Texas-Austin
During the 2005
Constitutional Amendment election season in Texas,
University of Texas at Austin students began and ran a
field campaign on campus to defeat Constitutional
Amendment 2. The campaign was called the Campus Alliance
Against Inequality and ran from July through the election
in November. Student voter turnout at the University of
Texas and surrounding student-populated precincts hit
higher levels than in previous Constitutional Amendment
elections and numbers against Constitutional Amendment 2,
the “gay marriage amendment,” showed overwhelming
opposition to discrimination in the law. A description of
campaign activities undertaken at the University of Texas
are detailed in this paper. The University of Texas was
not the only school to conduct campaign activities against
Constitutional Amendment 2, and several other campuses
showed similar results. All student precincts studied,
whether there was a campaign presence on campus or not,
showed higher turnout against Constitutional Amendment 2
than corresponding County totals. Student activity in this
election was higher than in previous odd-year elections
and this can be attributed to the propensity of young
people to respond to socially progressive issues.
Conclusions of this study indicated: 1.Students turned out
in higher numbers during this election than they had in
the past on similar elections. 2.Campuses with campaigns
against Constitutional Amendment 2 turned out higher
percentages of voters against the Amendment. 3.Student
precincts voted against Constitutional Amendment 2 at
higher rates than their counties. The study of political
activism on campuses during this election in Texas
suggests that progressive political organizations ought to
spend high level resources motivating young people on
college campuses to organize peer-to-peer political
campaigns. Student voting levels have increased over the
past decade and with “moral values” issues taking
higher priority in American politics, that level may
continue to grow. Progressive politics should take hold of
this opportunity and encourage future student political
activism.
About Marti Bier
Marti Bier is currently a
second year graduate student at the LBJ School of Public
Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin,
concentrating in non-profit studies and campaign
management. Born in Chicago, but living in Texas since
1993, Marti has been actively involved in the civil rights
struggle of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT)
individuals since 1997 at both the local and national
levels. She has worked on several issue and candidate
campaigns in the US, including the No Nonsense in November
Campaign, where she led the efforts at the University of
Texas to defeat a discriminatory statewide Constitutional
Amendment against marriage equality. Marti also currently
acts as the Field Director of Atticus Circle, a non-profit
organization dedicated to creating a united voice of
straight people to speak out for same-sex partners and
parents.
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