Students register to vote during Rock the Vote event on Oct. 3. Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 22.

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – OCTOBER 31, 2012 –  The final day to vote early for the upcoming presidential election at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College is Friday, Nov. 2. Registered voters can cast their ballots from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Mary Rose Cardenas Hall South Room 117. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.

“We are so privileged to live in a free society,” Rev. Armand Mathew, OMI, former executive director of Kids Voting USA – Brownsville, said. “The way to protect it is to be active in public discourse, and the only way to do that is to exercise our tremendous privilege to vote.”

Early voting parking will be available in front of Cardenas South and North Hall.

“We must realize, of course, that there many folks in this world that don’t have that privilege,” Rev. Mathew said. “The quickest privilege to lose that is not to exercise it, and I hope people go out and cast their vote on Monday.”

The Center for Civic Engagement has an initiative called Project 100%, the goal of which is to achieve 100 percent eligible voter turnout on campus. They will be out each day urging eligible voters to cast their vote.

On Tuesday, Oct. 9, Presidential Medal of Freedom Winner Dolores Huerta visited with students for a formal question-and-answer section. There, she urged every person present to cast their vote in the upcoming elections.

“The most important non-violent weapon we have is our vote,” Huerta said. “If we don’t give up, things will change. We just keep on working until we make things happen.”