Elections are conducted in our country every five years. From the nature of democracy, our elected leaders are accountable to us. They have to return to the voters whom they represent at an interval, which in the US is five years, to seek their mandate in representing citizens. It is this time when citizens are constitutionally given the mandate of demoting leaders who cannot deliver on their promises (Green, Donald, and Alan 8). It is an undisputed fact that Texas is one of the states that record the lowest voter turnout in United States history.
Since time immemorial, the state has been key when it comes to low voter turnout during elections. It ranks near the lowest in the entire nation during general elections, with the voter turnout recording even lower when it comes to by-elections or, rather, non-presidential elections. Statistics from the past four election years show that 2008 stood out as the best, recording approximately 46% of the registered votes in the entire state. Since then, the graph has shown a fall in percentage in the subsequent years, with 2016 general elections recording as low as 42%, even though that is slightly higher than 2012’s 41%.
Questions have been raised as to why voter turnout is so low compared to other states. Both the media and political analysts have analyzed different answers to that question keenly, and it stands out that the demography of the state is much of a contributing factor to this (Hobby et al. 7). Other factors also contribute to the low voter turnout, demographics is considered the major contributing factor. Some people fail to turn out because of reasons like the suppression of voters’ efforts, the lack of choices, uncompetitive races, and unmotivated electorates. Individually, I propose the best way of increasing voter turnout in Texas, which is first by educating these citizens on the importance of voting. Second, the key political parties must present much more competitive people for the major posts.
Considering the options voters have in the United States, to some extent, we can say they lack options, and this lack of options might be a contributing factor. Despite the fact that most of the residents in Texas are either Democrats or Republicans, we cannot ignore the fact that these two choices are not enough for everyone. Lack of choices, therefore, can be considered a hurdle barring some people from voting.
On the number of polling centres across the state, we cannot deny the fact that polling centres are always fairly distributed in all the states of the entire US based on the population in an area. From this, I can say that it is of no meaning to complain about the polling centres being a problem. The significant problem raised by most Democrats in the states is the registration procedure (Hobby et al. 5). There are laws that Democrats consider to be negatively affecting the turnout of their supporters. The voter ID law is considered pasty on the side of the Democrats, considering the thumping they get on the eve of election nights. To some extent, Democrats believe this law is a hurdle keeping their voters at home during election days, giving Republicans an easy ground to win and hence resulting in low voter turnout in general. All these factors can be the problem for the unending record of low voter turnout in Texas. Comparing the turnout with the general turnout in the entire US, Texas is much lower than the national tally. Texas has never recorded anything more than 50%, while generally, the turnout has always been above the average.
In summary, Texas has been recording low voter turnout, especially in by-elections. This notion is expected to continue, but it is the role of the state and the few individuals who are well aware of how the right to vote is important to convince the lagging and let them come out in numbers to vote on election days.
Work Cited
Green, Donald P., and Alan S. Gerber. Get out the vote: How to increase voter turnout. Brookings Institution Press, 2015: Pp 8.
Hobby, Governor Bill, et al. “The Texas Voter ID Law and the 2014 Election.” (2016): Pp 7.
Hobby, Bill, et al. “The Texas voter ID law and the 2014 election: A study of Texas’s 23rd Congressional District.” (2015): Pp 5.
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