Low Voter Turnout In Texas

The Bill of Rights provides more protection among Texans than the United States Constitution. For an increase in voter turnout, Texas would need to become a compulsory voting state, which enables the government to make voting a law, and to punish those who do not follow. This would be outrageous towards the Texas citizens, and allowing more power to the Texas government. Stronger governot power-controlseverything-budget, payrate,

In chapter 5 the article One Face of the Texas Tea Party by Julie McCarty from the “‘Politics in Practice” gives insight on how the people of Texas maintain checks and balances on their government. The Texas Tea Party is a conservative movement that is very popular in Texas, especially in Northeast Tarrant County or NETT. The Republican Party is a conservative party and so is the Texas Tea Party movement. The article confirms that Texas is largely a Republican Party state in terms of political influence. The Texas Tea Party is a very powerful political force in this part of the state.

Instead of focusing on picking the right person to lead, the election had turned into a complexity of race. Isbell, had many meetings about Latinos losing their right to vote, but he chose to avoid anything that would make him look racist or critical. The U.S. District Judges Xavier Rodriguez and Orlando Garcia wrote in their opinion of gerrymandering in Texas that "The record indicates not just a hostility toward Democrat districts, but a hostility to minority districts, and a willingness to use race for partisan advantage,"(1). In addition, Nina Perales said, "The court's decision exposes the Texas Legislature's illegal effort to dilute the vote of Texas Latinos." (1), which means that having Latinos move to another district it equaled to less democratic voters and more republican voters.

The political culture of Texas can be described as being both Individualistic as well as Traditionalistic. In other words, Texas believes in the basic feature of individualistic values such as a strong belief in self-reliance, resistance to regulation, and a suspicion of public institutions. However,

Hey jackson! I completely agree what you said in your discussion. The low voter turnout should not be worried about and that it is a good thing in general. The people should not vote if they are not interested or are not educated on the election. As you said, If you introduce and educate the people on politics this should help the low voter turnout in time.

Voting practice at first glance may seem to be more democratic because there was universal white male suffrage by the early 1830s, due to the the educational and property limitations that were removed that held education-less and property-less white males back. Allowing all white men to vote, regardless of property ownership and educations allows more of the population to participate, however it still excluded a large portion of the population. For example, prior to universal white male suffrage, women in New Jersey were allowed to vote if they were educated and owned property; however New Jersey decided to change its policy and favor it towards white males. There was also an active effort to deny African Americans from voting. Voting is an important aspect of politics because it is supposed to give people a chance to have a say in government.

The Social Peculiarities of Texas Political Culture. Texas is one of the fastest-growing states. Nowadays it became more culturally diverse than ever. As a result, the increasing diversity has a significant impact on the political culture. Currently the Native-American population is less than one-half of percent in Texas, while during the nineteen century there were at least twenty-three groups of Native-Americans.

Growing up in the small town of Port Arthur, Texas was very tough. The city’s crime rates are higher than the percentage that chooses to attend a college or university. With all of the crime, poverty, and near death experiences, the city has made me into a stronger and more motivated person wanting to help the poor. My parents came from the city of Saigon, Vietnam in the year of 1998. With no English and only $100, they arrived on a small shrimp boat in Port Arthur, Texas.

The history of political parties in Texas is marked by nearly a century of Democratic Party dominance followed by a realignment that shifted the balance of power in favor if the republicans. Political science professor Cal Jilson noted that the dominance of one party in Texas has been a result of the state’s dominant values. Both parties in Texas today reflect more conservative versions of their national counterparts. The other chapter talks about the Interest groups in Texas. Interest groups plays a critical role in all democratic systems of government.

In my essay I will provide three reasons why I do not believe Texas is operating within a democracy-a political system where the many rule. According to Author Robert Dahl, a democracy should provide opportunities for effective participation, equality in voting and inclusion of adults. There are socioeconomic factors- such ethnicity, education and income which are mentioned by author of our textbook, that impact voter participation. To begin, let’s look at the role a person ethnicity plays in a democracy. Next, examine the level of education and how it correlates to voting.

The political scene in Texas for the past twenty years has been consistently geared to one side (the right) and I do not see it changing anytime soon. This last presidential election was the most controversial and divided this country has seen in decades and if a change was going to happen, it would have happened this cycle. As the Texas counties started submitting their total vote counts for the presidency, the only counties that went blue were the counties with the major Texas cities in them, i.e. Austin and Dallas. The rest of the state stayed red. This trend hasn’t been uncommon.

Citizens who already have an identification card may feel that it is their duty to vote, which can raise the voter rate in Texas. I feel that this law is not discriminating; it is just preventing voter fraud from occurring. As a minority, I do not feel that this law is discriminating me from voting instead I feel motivated to vote because as a citizen of the United States I can make a

The United States currently faces a severe problem with one of their governmental processes. In the democratic system of the United States, politicians are elected by voting from the citizens, in most cases. The problem the United States is facing is that people are no longer voting in elections for officials. This problem is discussed in the article, “In praise of low voter turnout”, written by Charles Krauthammer. The main idea behind this article is that voters are no longer interested in politics, as they were in previous generations.

Immigrants have become a relevant topic as well with racism and unfair treatment, but even so things have begun being more pessimistic, and the overall feeling is not extremely focused on Latinos, but everyone as a whole. Texas government and history have deep roots with the spanish and while many people see this in the cities, and the culture that is predominantly hispanic there are still issues that come up daily. Nonetheless the progress that has been achieved is commendable, and Latinos have truly gone a long way despite that things still could be better. The heritage and lifestyle is still troubled by leaders and everyday racism, but those are things that are slowly changing as unions and people group up together. Just like Texas was once in possession of the Spanish the roots go deep in this

It is clear that American voters tend to avoid local elections and off-year elections. Run-off elections are also likely to register lower voter turnout as compared to first-round elections. The larger the gap between first round elections and run-off elections, the higher the decline in voter turnout. Moreover, there are lower percentages of young people voting as compared to the older population. This is an important point to note since it highlights that young people do not have information guiding them on the importance of voting.