School officials in several districts across the country, including the Rio Grande Valley, have decided to give students a holiday on Election Day, Nov. 8. It could be a good idea, although the need for such a decision is alarming, and tragic.
Schools are a popular choice for election precinct sites. Libraries, gymnasiums and auditoriums at these quasi-public institutions normally can easily handle people who arrive to cast their ballots and the precinct workers who manage the process.
Many people support the use of school campuses for elections for another reason, as they believe the example set by active voters can help inspire students to participate when they’re old enough to cast their own ballots.
Unfortunately, a new, more nefarious example is now being set.
Violence and threats that have continued since the 2020 election have raised valid concerns about this year’s general election. Legislation passed in several states, including Texas, in the wake of that unrest only adds to the uncertainty — and fear — that something could go wrong when votes are cast. In response, some officials will let students stay home.
Much of the problem stems from one candidate’s, and his followers’, refusal to accept his defeat two years ago. Continued challenges, sporadic violence and even more threats of violence, continue to this day.
Insisting that he only could have lost by fraudulent means, they continue to challenge several key elections.
Their allegations were fed by laws and precinct policies that traditionally have helped ensure that the voting process is private, honest, fair and safe. One of those measures was the prohibition of partisan activity near polling sites.
Several states have enacted laws to break down those protections. Texas passed several bills that allow interested parties, including those representing candidates, to be inside the precincts while voters cast their ballots.
The new law stipulates that “a poll watcher may not be denied free movement where election activity is occurring within the location at which the watcher is serving. A poll watcher who is entitled to ‘observe’ the activity … is entitled to sit or stand near enough to see and hear the activity.” While watchers can’t enter a booth with voters, they could get close enough to make their presence felt — and in locations using fold-out tables with short panels on the edges, they could see how people vote.
On paper the law might seem innocuous to some, but some poll “watchers” in the past have attempted to talk to voters before they enter a facility; some have shown up in costumes resembling police or even Border Patrol officials, some even carrying weapons.
Such tactics only raise the possibility of confrontation between equally impassioned poll watchers on opposing sites. That higher possibility could put students in harm’s way. Even without violence, any confrontation is something most rational adults would prefer that their children do not see.
Either way, it’s hard to deny that even as we tout open, free elections as one of our country’s great assets, recent disruptions only set a bad example for future generations.
