Standardize Texas Elections Now!

Texas’ Election Chaos: The Fight for a Fair Voice

by Doyer, Legal Policy Director for Honest Elections Project Action

Voters in Harris County are once again heading to the polls this week, in yet another runoff election. Harris County, like much of Texas, is plagued by a broken election system that results in multiple, off-cycle elections. This tiresome pattern leads to low voter turnout, creating a manipulation opportunity for special interests and overworking election officials.

URL: https://honestelections.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Model-Bill-Uniform-Election-Date.pdf

The Problem

• Texans are familiar with biennial federal and statewide elections, which see higher turnout.
• However, countless other elections for city, school boards, hospital boards, and utility districts, are held separately, often with very low turnout.
• URL examples:
  • https://www.harrisvotes.com/election-results/archives
  • https://www.dallascountyvotes.org/election-results/historical/
• Off-cycle elections, with their low turnout, can be easily swayed by a small number of votes.
• A recent Leander City Council runoff was decided by just four votes, with a turnout of only ~5% of the population.
• URL examples:
  • https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/leander-tx-population
  • https://www.leandertx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3193/e2024_canvass_general?bidId=

The Impact

• The current Harris County Appraisal District Board of Directors runoff is expected to have low turnout, despite its importance in influencing property tax assessments.
• URL example: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/election-2024/2024/06/03/489447/harris-county-appraisal-district-board-seats-up-for-grabs-as-early-voting-begins-for-latest-election/
• In a previous election, a mere 2.18% of voters turned out, and in another, just 9 voters approved issuing $31 million in bonds.
• URL example: https://files.harrisvotes.com/harrisvotes/prd/Reports/Official-Cumulative-Results-5-13-2024_04-07-21_PM.pdf
• Off-cycle elections give special interest groups more power and lead to less representative government.
• URL example: https://nowpublishers.com/article/Details/QJPS-11056

The Burden on Election Officials

• Repeated elections place a tremendous burden on election officials and require significant resources.
• With high election official turnover rates and struggles to find poll workers, the current system is impractical and costly.
• URL examples:
  • https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/09/election-administrator-turnover-rates-increases/
  • https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/2022_EAVS_Report_508c.pdf
  • https://www.kxan.com/state-of-texas/state-of-texas-the-job-is-hard-counties-struggle-to-find-poll-workers-as-election-nears
• The high workload and quick turnaround can lead to mistakes, damaging public confidence in elections.

The Solution

We must move towards a routine election calendar, consolidating elections onto a single November date, outside of primaries and certain specials.
This empowers voters, reduces special interest influence, boosts turnout, and eases the burden on election officials.

It's time to give Texans a fair and representative government, free from election chaos.