Texas State urges students to register to vote — and why an international student must not

Texas State is running its Bobcats Vote campaign: check whether you are registered, make a plan to vote, bring an accepted photo ID. For the November election there is a polling place inside the LBJ Student Center, in the middle of the San Marcos campus.

We are publishing it anyway, because some readers of this site are US citizens of Vietnamese descent, and for them everything above applies in full. But most of the length here goes to the legal line, because that is the part that can undo a ten-year plan.

Who may vote in the United States

The first eligibility requirement Texas lists for voter registration is a single line: "You are a United States citizen." There is no exception for taxpayers, for long residence, or for green card holders.

The danger is not the ballot. It is the form.

This is the part most write-ups leave out. There are three separate consequences, and the heaviest one lands before you ever walk into a polling place.

Texas adds its own charge on top. Under § 13.007 of the Texas Election Code, knowingly making a false statement on a registration application is a Class A misdemeanour, and heavier where compensation is involved.

Nor does this fade with time. Form N-400, the naturalisation application, asks directly whether you have ever registered to vote or voted in any federal, state or local election in the United States. A signature at nineteen comes back precisely when you file for citizenship a decade later.

Four places people actually get caught

Almost nobody sets out to vote unlawfully. People get caught where it looks harmless.

At the driver's licence counter

Federal law requires states to offer voter registration at driver's licence agencies — "motor voter". So when you apply for a Texas licence or state ID, there may well be a box asking whether you want to register to vote. The answer is always no.

This is also not a place to rely on nobody checking. Texas DPS requires proof of lawful presence to issue a licence, and since SB 1 took effect in 2021 the department sends the Secretary of State monthly data on people who documented that they are not US citizens. The two systems are cross-referenced.

At a registration table on the quad

This time of year there are registration tables around campus, usually staffed by student volunteers. Someone will hand you a clipboard and a pen, very warmly. "I'm not a US citizen" ends it — there is nothing impolite in that sentence, and whoever is on the table hears it daily.

When your roommate says everyone does it

Not everyone does, and it is checked. The risk here is entirely one-sided: what you gain is one vote; what you stand to lose is your status and your future eligibility.

On online registration sites

Plenty of non-profits run slick online registration drives — two minutes and you are done. It is the same form, with the same citizenship affirmation on it.

What you can do

None of this makes you a bystander. The line falls at exactly one place — the ballot in a public election — and it does not extend outward to everything else.

• You can vote in student government elections. Texas State's Student Government rules state that all students of every classification, enrolled for any number of credit hours at the San Marcos or Round Rock campuses, are allowed to vote. No citizenship condition. Elections run each spring, through the Bobcat Organization Hub.
• Understanding the American political system is part of studying here. Talks, public forums and courses on US politics are open to international students.
• Student organisations — the international student association, academic societies, volunteer groups — are where you have a real voice over four years.

Political campaigning and protest are a separate legal question that depends on visa status and circumstance. That is not something to settle from a web page; ask the university's international student office and an immigration attorney.

If you are a US citizen

This section is the campaign itself, unchanged. If you are a Vietnamese-American student, or a dual national studying at San Marcos, all of it is yours to use.

Photo IDs Texas accepts: Texas driver's licence, Texas personal ID card, Texas election ID certificate, Texas handgun licence, US military ID with photo, US citizenship certificate with photograph, US passport.

Voting by mail in Texas is limited to specific grounds: being away from your county throughout early voting and on Election Day, being 65 or older, expecting to give birth within three weeks either side of Election Day, sickness or disability, or being confined in jail while otherwise eligible.

If you have already registered or voted

To be clear about our own position: we are a study-abroad advising office, not a law firm. This article sets out what the statutes say and where to go; it is not immigration advice for anyone's particular case. A general rule worth keeping: do not take immigration advice from a study-abroad agency — ours included.

And one more thing, for the avoidance of doubt: this article is about legal eligibility only. Who anyone votes for is a citizen's own business, not ours.

More on status and what comes with it: the F-1 student visa, student life in San Marcos, or get in touch.

Sources: Bobcats Vote, Student Involvement and Engagement, Texas State University (dates, polling place, ID list, mail-ballot grounds) · Important Election Dates, Texas Secretary of State (deadlines) · Eligibility for Registration, VoteTexas.gov (citizenship requirement) · 18 U.S.C. § 611, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(6) and 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii), (i) (statutory text) · Student Government Election Information, Texas State University (student election eligibility).