Low Voter Turnout Essay

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Did you know that Texas is consistently one of the worst states for voter turnout? This question leads you to think, why is voter turnout so low and what can we do to increase voter turnout? Different factors come into play such as demographics and legal constraints, but these factors also show us how we can apply new tactics to increase voter turnout.
According to the textbook, “The most important demographic variables are education, income and age.” Texas has a very uneven background due to these factors. In other words, the rich and educated vote, while the poor and uneducated stay home. The Texas Observer shows excellent proof of this with Presidential election turnout of 2008. Areas of white middle-class suburbs have turnouts of 85-99 percent while areas of poor minority communities have voter turnouts as low as 23 percent. Politicians tend to campaign in areas where they know people are going to vote, leaving the other areas untapped. …show more content…

Texas Public Radio also examines how the states Republican party has passed legislation to make voting and registering more difficult. The Latino population in Texas shows proof of how these legal constraints play a role, by the number of Latino voter turnouts being so low. The article on Texas public radio explores this topic with an organization called “Texans Together” that works with lower income communities to help them get out to vote. When asking citizens about voting they state that, "In the end it doesn't make a difference if you vote or not, because even if you voted your vote is counted, but it's not going to make a difference because more people could vote for something else and that's going to win." These communities are uneducated about topics that apply directly to them and they do not realize the impact they can have on certain extreme

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