Low Voting In Texas

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“Texas ranks last in the nations voter participation” (Champagne). The state of Texas offers public opinion votes to be heard in all branches of government and changes to the state constitution. This sounds like a place where the public would live the multiple opportunities they have to be heard, but in reality, one part dominates election due to low turnout (Champagne). Low voting turnout could be caused by the states demographic or contemporary barriers. In response to low voter turnout, lawmakers have experimented with charging state requirements for voting.
First, Texas low voter turnout has to do with the state demographics. The population if Texas has a high Latino rate. Most of the Latino population isn't registered to vote or are undocumented. …show more content…

They all generally cause lower voting statistics; “In general, citizens who are older, white, or more educated are more likely to vote than younger, non-white, or less educated citizens” (laits). This may be because the ones who decide to not vote think they are not educated to make a good decision or they believe their one vote make much of a difference. These factors are just barriers that don’t prevent voters from voting instead they convince them not to. Being educated is important to voters because it can be hard deciphering all the candidates. Texas population average age is low when compared to the national average (Champagne). Generally speaking, education and income go hand in hand with minority groups. Texas has a large percentage of minority groups. People grouped this category that is voting age tend to be less educated and have a lower …show more content…

When comparing voting laws from in the past to now, some changes have already helped. Before, a person had to be a resident of Texas for at least one year and in the county for six months in order to vote. Now, it is only 30 days for both (Champagne). Another change that opened the door for more voting participation was early voting; “Early voting is a procedure that increases the polling period from 12 hours on Election Day to two weeks prior to the election” (Champagne). This was set in place with hopes to allow more people to get time to vote. Texas citizens have the opportunity to vote in a lot of state decisions. A problem with that is there are many polls happing all throughout the year. A smart way to eliminate the number of elections and up the participation is the consolidate election polling together; “If there were fewer election, the ballot would be longer, but voter turnout would likely be higher, because more voters would be attracted to at least some races or issues on the ballot” (Champagne). I believe this idea would help immensely. More people are likely to make time to vote when they only have to do it a few times a year instead of

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