The future of Texas is taking action.
Young Texans are being hit the hardest by the strict voter laws in Texas.
University of Texas at Austin freshman, Ric Galvan is a driving force pushing for action for his community.
“On the first Saturday of early voting in the 2018 election, I hosted a ‘Get Out The Vote’ party near my old high school where I had paletas for anyone who came to the polling location.”
Get Out The Vote is an effort to increase voter turnout by encouraging others to vote. “The GOTV idea came from the work I had been doing with Texas Rising at UT,” Galvan says. “When we had big events for National Voter Registration Day they were super fun to do, we gave out t-shirts just for filling out a pledge to vote card along with offering voter registration so I figured that would be a good idea to translate to the election.”
These efforts are aimed to motivate eligible voters to come out to the polls by using voting tactics such as canvassing, phone banking, and in Galvan’s case – a paleta party.
Galvan brought this GOTV strategy back home to San Antonio for his community in hopes of making voting a fun event where families and individuals could come and join. Hoping to reach out to younger voters, Galvan hosted the event at his former high school.
“A bunch of my friends came, some with their families, and some of their friends came as well. It was a good experience for all of us because it was our first time voting.” Galvan says.
Starting off young and being involved in the world of political organizing. Galvan awoke his passion for politics and voting and wished to bring that same energy to his community.
“During early voting, I block walked in my neighborhood, asking my neighbors if they were going to vote and reminding them of early voting. It wasn’t that successful, not many people planned on voting.” Galvan said.
“But from that moment, I knew I wanted to learn more about grassroots organizing so that I could get my community involved so their voice, that often isn’t heard, could be heard.”
With Texas constantly attempting to pass hurtful legislation that suppresses the voter turnout, strict ID laws, silence minority groups and all around the image that surrounds voting in Texas, the fight continues. And Ric Galvan will be there with his paletas.
