Under Friday Night Lights, there are touchdowns, cheers ... and a get-out-the-vote push

How do you get more Texans to vote? Get them registered at a high school football game.

That’s the idea volunteers in Birdville schools got while brainstorming ways to increase voter interest this election season. It seemed like a no-brainer for a community that loves football.

“We go to the football games — we are just fans,” said Pam Horton, a North Richland Hills resident who volunteered at a recent match between the Richland High Rebels and Arlington Lamar Vikings at Birdville’s fine arts and athletic complex.

Horton, a 1976 graduate of Birdville’s Haltom High School, also loves her district. She’s among several volunteers who are taking voter information to the public for the district’s upcoming bond election.

“We are hoping the bond issue passes so we can upgrade technology at several schools that are almost as old as I am,” Horton said.

The proposed $252.8 million bond package includes replacing five campuses with four, renovations, technology upgrades and security enhancements.

And it just so happens that the bond election falls on Nov. 6, which is the same day as the much-talked about midterm elections. Many eyes are on the midterm elections as national pundits say will test whether there’s a blue wave or whether there is will be a Donald Trump effect at the polls.

In Texas, the race between Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O’Rourke is topping the ballot. For Birdville voters, the bond election is at the bottom of the ballot.

The suburban district sits east of downtown Fort Worth and has 33 campuses serving about 23,800 students. The district is also deep in the heart of red Tarrant County.

Across the street from the Birdville’s 12,000-capacity football facility, political signs urge voters to remember GOP candidates at the polls. A sign for Cruz is planted in an empty lot next to a sign for Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford. Stickland is running against Democratic challenger Steve Riddell.

Birdville’s volunteers have been informing potential voters about how to register to vote and telling them about the upcoming bond election. At some of the games, deputy voter registrars are on hand to collect the applications, but at Thursday’s game, volunteers simply passed out the applications.

“These are community volunteers who are out there encouraging people to get registered to vote,” said Mark Thomas, spokesman for Birdville schools.

Ralph Kunkel, vice president of the Birdville school board, said the district is careful to let people learn about the bond without campaigning for it. He said supporters of the bond have been volunteering at venues that include Birdville families, including PTA meetings and volleyball games.

“This is just an opportunity to let people know there is an election coming up,” Kunkel said.

At a recent football game, fans from Arlington’s Lamar High School and Richland High School were greeted by the smell of cotton candy and voter information as they entered Birdville’s Fine Arts/Athletic Complex in North Richland Hills.

Melody Duckworth, a mother of two elementary students in Birdville schools, took a voter registration application because she needs to register under a new address, she said.

Duckworth said she was planning to vote on the bond issue and the volunteers at the football game reminded her to put it on her to-do list. Mixing football with civics worked for her.

“It brings out a lot of families — Friday Night Lights,” Duckworth said with a smile.

Asked if she’s as big a fan of voting as football, Duckworth chuckled and responded: “I am not a hard-core dedicated voter, but I vote when it is something that impacts the community — especially education.”

Volunteers also kept an eye out for potential first-time young voters like Soleil Lawton, who turned 18 on Sept. 1.

The Richland High senior said she’s been thinking about registering because it is her right.

Lawton, who was raised in Kansas, said it makes sense to make a voter registration push at a football game.

“It’s kind of smart because I know football is big in Texas,” she said.

This story was originally published September 24, 2018 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Under Friday Night Lights, there are touchdowns, cheers ... and a get-out-the-vote push."