Voter apathy strikes again in Texas | Opinion
Contributor J. Peter Kline explains how low turnout in primary elections facilitates polarization.The March 1 primaries are behind us, and we have only ourselves to blame for the continuing disintegration of our representative system of government.
Nearly 83% of Texas’ registered voters were no-shows for the election. The turnout in Dallas County was even worse; only 15% of eligible voters participated. Four out of five registered voters squandered their citizenship rights. On May 24, voters will have one more opportunity to determine who wins the runoffs in several important primary races where no candidate won a majority of the votes on March 1. But if the pattern of history holds, less than 5% of registered voters will show up for the runoffs, and the Republican and Democratic nominees will be determined by as few as 3% of eligible voters.
There are important races in both political parties, but the Republican runoff in the attorney general’s race between Ken Paxton and George P. Bush should be a clarion call for an unprecedented turnout. Incredibly, our state’s top law enforcement officer was reelected four years ago despite being indicted on fraud charges in 2015, and he has yet to go to trial. In his second term, most of his senior staff resigned over his questionable behavior in office, prompting an ongoing FBI investigation.
Our government officials are responding to the few people who vote. The Republican primary ballot included 10 non-binding propositions to assess voters’ opinions on a variety of issues. Statewide, only 11% of registered voters cast a Republican primary ballot, and this small minority of voters supported those propositions at rates as high as 95%.
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