Most of them voted in person. “I’ve been here for eight years, and when I go to campus, I’ve never seen it this empty, and that includes summer when no one’s on campus,” Curry said. That’s simply unconscionable. In Texas, activists said the inability to go door to door and host big public events caused new registrations to plummet by 24% across the state in the first seven months of the year. This is a mistake. The lowest participation rate in the last 18 years was in the 1998 midterms, when only 38.6% of the electorate made it to the polls. “And of course, it shifts your spending. In May, the Texas Supreme Court determined that the lack of immunity was not a “disability” for purposes of voting by mail. Texas Tribune members invest in our nonprofit newsroom because they believe credible, nonpartisan reporting makes for a better, smarter Texas.

The challenge for Prairie View students, Price said, is keeping them engaged in spite of all they’ve been through in the last six months — economic loss, sudden shut down of schools and the psychological toll taken by intense division over police shootings of Black people.
Poll workers will likely be wearing face masks and other protective equipment, but masks will not be required for voters. Even though the turnout was higher than expected, University of Texas at Tyler Assistant Professor of Political Science Mark Owens said that the turnout for constitutional amendment elections will probably not shatter any records.

Instead, the freshman neuroscience major is holed up in her childhood bedroom in Arlington, taking all her classes online because of the coronavirus pandemic. While voter turnout in Georgia is relatively low in presidential elections, as in every other state, an even smaller share of eligible voters turnout for midterm elections. Numerous studies have shown voting by mail increases turnout for both parties and that fraud is exceedingly rare.

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? The next presidential election is more than a year away, but groups working to get young people in the state civically engaged have been beefing up their operations for a while. If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are exhibiting symptoms, consider requesting an emergency mail-in ballot or using curbside voting. In general, polling locations will have guidelines in place for social distancing and regular cleaning. “We would normally be doing so much in person right now with people on these campuses, and it’s just not safe. Native American tribes in Texas rally to increase voter turnout. Check if you’re, Texas is one of just a few states that hasn’t opened up mail-in voting to any voter concerned about getting COVID-19 at a polling place. During the last election, turnout among Texas voters under 30 tripled compared with the previous midterm election.

Texas Tribune members invest in our nonprofit newsroom because they believe credible, nonpartisan reporting makes for a better, smarter Texas. “The lines on Election Day are going to be horrendous, there and in other schools, and we're just kind of bracing for the impact.”. Voters can cast ballots at any polling location in the county where they are registered to vote during early voting. In Texas absentee voting is only allowed for voters who are out of state, have a disability or are older than 65, and there is no support among the state leadership to expand on that. “We’re going to try to convince these students that, despite all these reasons for being discouraged, we still need them to show up in the process,” Price said. “It doesn’t look quite the same, given the fact that there’s not the same number of people on campus,” she said. “For me, a big deal is the income tax and making that harder for the legislature,” said voter Elwood Stetson.

As a way to increase voter registration at UT-Austin away from campus, Madeline Pederson visits Zoom class sessions to encourage other students to register to vote. “The lines were longer than I usually experience when I come out to vote,” said Terri Frazier, Tyler resident and voter, “but it’s always great seeing people come out to vote.”. Greg Abbott extended the early voting period during the runoff election to alleviate congestion at the polls, and he has indicated he will do the same for the general election. In fact, only Utah, Alaska and the District of Columbia have younger populations — and not by much. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple college campuses flip a couple of House seats,” said Carter Estes, a graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock and executive director of the Texas Federation of College Republicans. Through events like the parade, Aguilar said the group hopes to make the democratic process more visible to Native Americans. ... voter turnout rate among Native American and Alaska Native voters is lower than other racial and … Cecelia Flores knows that voting turnout among her fellow Alabama-Coushatta Tribe members in East Texas has traditionally been low. Sept. 25, 20205 AM. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. “But in this case…this is the lowest turnout that we’ll have throughout the next four years.”. In Texas, how long prior to an election must you … A large number of election workers are older and considered at high risk should they get the coronavirus. Some voters said that they thought one proposition, in particular, brought more people to the polls. It’s projected that by 2022, one in three voters in Texas will be under 30. Registration parties and get out the vote rallies are banned, and tables are sparsely attended as some campuses stand mostly empty. If Texans voted at that rate in 2014 (when the state placed third to last in terms of voter turnout), the Lone Star State would rank 26th for voter turnout in the nation. ... voter turnout rate among Native American and Alaska Native voters is lower than other racial and …


Of course not. According to the 2010 Census, there were 315,000 people who identified as American Indians or Alaska Natives in Texas. It’s not appropriate,” said Vince Leibowitz, a Democratic consultant and campaign strategist for Hank Gilbert, who is running for Congress in East Texas. Steven Kellman of Antonio wanted to know why turnout is so consistently low in Texas. In 2014, for example, just 8% of Texas youth turned out to vote. On Tuesday, the group held a get-out-the-vote parade in the area and while Aguilar said she spoke to many who were excited to vote, she still worries about the community following through on Election Day. Texas has one of the worst voter participation rates overall — and youth voter turnout is particularly dire. “Who knows what the Texas Railroad Commissioner actually does? That change is also part of the reason the state experienced one of the closest statewide elections in decades, when Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke lost to incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz by less than 3 percentage points. 1,549,573. It is undetermined if the heightened voter interest in the runoff was due to the high political emotionalism that followed the killing of George Floyd while in police custody, an extended early voting period due to the pandemic or eagerness to venture out by voters who have otherwise mostly been confined to their homes. Transmission building on West Erwin Street around 12:30 a.m. Thursday. Again, higher turnout is welcome, but it poses challenges during a pandemic. The display of political energy contrasts with Texas’ long record of lackluster voter turnout.

We want your help in reporting on those challenges. Allowing all Texas registered voters the option of voting by mail would significantly reduce the COVID-19-related health concerns, but that is not going to happen — the courts have assured us of that. She was hoping to be active this year on campus reaching out to other new voters. Bonner said this is also about investing in the state’s future and making sure its electorate more accurately reflects its population. If we can do all that and achieve a 65 percent voter turnout, it would be a healthy showing for democracy. Now, the pandemic has added new challenges including the possibility of students being sent home without notice because of a COVID-19-related campus shutdown and displacement caused by distance learning. Tell us your voting story. Gov. Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates. Contact your county elections office for more details about both options. In the last midterm election in 2014, Texas’ 28.9 percent turnout was less than 1 percentage point higher than dead-last Indiana’s, according to the United States Elections Project, which estimates voter turnout based on reports from state election offices. “Because campaigns have felt that young people wouldn’t turn out for them.”. For both groups this was about a 13 percentage point increase over 2014, when turnout rates had declined to record lows for a midterm election year. “There is a lot of potential there,” said Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs. Karla Aguilar, the developmental director for the group, said they hope to increase voter turnout among the 30,000 Native Americans she said live in Bexar County. Then, an electronic bingo facility run by the tribe, which employs over 700 locals, was threatened with being forced to close when conflicting federal laws raised questions about whether the game could be offered there. You’ll want to check for open polling locations with your local elections office before you head out to vote. We can’t blame the election workers. As a volunteer with the New Voters Project, run by the Texas Public Interest Research Group advocacy organization, Pederson has gotten permission from professors to visit at least 10 Zoom classes to discuss registration and voting with fellow students for a few minutes before class starts. Meanwhile, voter turnout rates for whites (57.5%) and blacks (51.4%) increased by 11.7 … As voter registration rates plummet and tension mounts over a divisive presidential election, college students across the nation are facing myriad pandemic-era challenges to registration and voting — and pressure is mounting on universities and local governments to ease the strain. What we were planning to spend on in-person organizers, we’ve shifted to digital.”.