Surely, all the enthusiasm and hype — not to mention the raw numbers of voters who actually showed up to the polls — meant that Texas had at least crawled out of the cellar when it comes to electoral participation.
Elections Project. Despite 3. In the past, when the Observer has looked at Texas' abysmal voter turnout , the experts we've talked to have cited the lack of competitive races in the state, leading to a less-than-robust voting culture. Texas doesn't have that. It doesn't have this exciting national political scene.
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With local media under siege, it's more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" program, allowing us to keep offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food and culture with no paywalls. Texas remains one of the few states to balk at these and other tools that are proven to increase voter access and turnout.
Voting rights advocates say Texas' voting laws are antiquated and intended to make it difficult for many eligible voters — often racial minority groups and young voters — to participate in the democratic process and therefore maintain the status quo. Historians like Dr. Carey Latimore, a professor at Trinity University, say unequal access to the voting booth for Americans of color is nothing new in Texas and the South.
Latimore says policies that limit access to the polls are remnants of Jim Crow-era laws that circumvented federal rights, including those provided by the Constitution, to limit the voting strength of non-white communities in Texas and other Southern states. Decades of voter suppression in Texas have made the Lone Star State notorious for being one of the most stringent states for voting rights and access.
A report published in in the Election Law Journal ranked Texas as the 5th most difficult state to cast a ballot. Scientists from Northern Illinois University used data from to to determine their rankings. Texas is one of only nine states to not offer online voter registration. In Texas, residents have to fill out a voter registration application online , print it out and mail it to the voter registrar in their county of residence.
As of June , 21 states plus the District of Columbia allowed for same-day registration for residents. This allows any qualified resident of a state to register to vote and cast a ballot all in the same day. North Carolina allows same-day registration during early voting, but not on Election Day.
In Texas, residents must fill out an application that has to be mailed weeks before the election date. Evidence shows same-day registration increases voter turnout. A total of 19 states and the District of Columbia have shifted to a more streamlined registration process known as automatic voter registration or AVR. Texas is not one of them. Oregon became the first state to implement AVR in January When an eligible voter interacts or does business at a DMV or other government agency, they are generally automatically registered to vote.
The voter receives a notification and they can opt-out if they choose to do so. A report by the Brennan Center showed significant gains in voter rolls everywhere AVR had been implemented.
Same day voter registration makes voting more accessible by allowing individuals to register and vote at the same time — just like you are able to apply for a library card and check out a book in one trip. Research suggests that these policies increase voter turnout by 5 to 7 percent, and in Texas, a 6 percent increase in turnout would represent over one million additional votes.
In the presidential election, 20 states and the District of Columbia had active same day voter registration policies. Additionally, New Mexico had passed legislation but not yet implemented the policy. These states contributed to the election having the highest voter turnout rate since ; 9 of the 10 states with the highest voter turnout rates allow same day voter registration. On average, the states holding same day voter registration policies had a turnout rate of about 71 percent, while states without them had an average turnout rate of Many states made changes to same day voter registration policies since the presidential election.
Four states — Michigan, Nevada, Utah, and Washington — implemented new same day voter registration policies between and Nationally, state voter turnout rates increased by an average of 7 percent between and , but the four states with new same day registration policies increased their voter turnout by by Michigan, Nevada, Utah, and Washington each increased voter turnout rates from by 9.
All states currently offering same day voter registration require an individual to provide proof of residency and identification in order for their ballot to be counted; however, the accepted forms of residency and identification differ from state to state. Some states also allow an individual to cast a provisional ballot if they cannot provide identification, but the ballot is not counted unless they later provide proper identification.
Other measures for ensuring election security, like requiring signing an oath or affidavit or requiring in-person voting at a specific location, are attached to same day registration policies in some states.
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