 By HELEN ERIKSEN- Houston Chronicle PRAIRIE VIEW — More than 1,000 Prairie View A&M students turned out today to march in support of their voting rights.
The marchers said Prairie View student voting rights have been suppressed for decades in Waller County.
The protesters carried "Register to Vote" signs and wore black shirts with the slogan, "It is 2008 and we will vote.
"I was angry after registering to vote in the 2006 election only to be turned away at the voting booth," said sophomore Dee Dee Williams.
The march began at 9 a.m. as the protesters left the campus on the seven-mile journey to the Waller County Courthouse in Hempstead. Full story at Houston Chronicle
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Prairie View A&M Student March for Campus Voting Rights
Students attending Prairie View A&M University have begun marching throughout Waller County to protest the lack of early voting centers near the campus.
The students organized the Tuesday rally to convince lawmakers to allow early voting on campus, since other county voting centers are long distances away from the Prairie View.
The walk will extend to more than seven miles to the Waller County courthouse, the only full-time early voting site in the county.
Waller County administrators agreed to add several area early voting sites, but the polling places are not scheduled to open for several days, cutting into the early voting period.
Andre Evans, president of the Prairie View Student Government Association, told FOX 26 News, "I think it's time for students to be more proactive and aggressive in obtaining our rights."
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