Perhaps politics in Texas would be somewhat different if people were half as enthusiastic about lining up for the voting booth as they are about lining up outside Franklin Barbecue on a Saturday. Perhaps this is something the Republican dynasty is not only grateful, but responsible for. The truth, as embarrassing as it may be, is that our state largely does not vote. A recent study ranks Texas 48th when it comes to being politically engaged, and I think the dominance of the Republican party has a lot to do with the disenchantment many Texans feel towards the voting process.
Looking at the breakdown of party identification in Texas, there is actually much less disparity between the percentages of Republicans and Democrats than one might think. Why, then, is this state so consistently and overwhelmingly red when it comes to elections? Put plainly, the Democrats don’t vote, and the Republicans make sure of it. The most glaring evidence of this is the recent saga of the Voter ID Law. Republican leaders in Texas have been in strong support of a law that more or less disenfranchises about 600,000 registered voters who don’t possess an acceptable state-issued ID. This population of voters includes low-income citizens and racial minorities, two demographics that are statistically likely to vote Democrat.
The Republicans have also been able to use their dominance of the legislature to rearrange voting districts in their favor. The Austin area, for example, is heavily concentrated with Democratic or liberal-leaning ideologies. Therefore, the Republicans have made sure to split it up and dilute each section with more conservative views during redistricting sessions. Texas does have a substantial population of Democrats, they are just not likely to win elections due to the distribution of partisanship within districts.
While the Republicans’ aim is mainly to secure their control of the state and keep as many Democrats from voting as they can, I think this actually affects voter turnout as a whole. Survey research shows that one of the top reasons Texans give for not showing up to the voting booths is that they feel their vote will not make a difference, and in some respects this reasoning makes sense. If you’re a Democrat, even in an area as liberal as Austin, it’s difficult to be convinced that your views will ever actually be represented, and bothering to vote can seem like a waste of time. If you’re a Republican, it’s highly likely that your policies will prevail whether you cast a ballot or not, so again, voting seems unnecessary. Take these non-voters and add them to the 600,000 without state-issued IDs and it’s unsurprising that our state has an abysmal turnout for every election. If Texas became more of a two-party state with closer competition between candidates, more Texans would want to engage with politics and cast their vote. However, voters continue to stay home on election day, and Republicans couldn’t be happier about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment