Austin News

Tuesday, November 19 marks the deadline for Texas counties to certify the results of the recent general election. The Texas Division of Elections reported a voter turnout of approximately 61%, with nearly 11.3 million Texans casting their votes.

Common Cause Texas, along with other organizations, observed several issues during the election. These included problems related to voter registration, vote-by-mail ballot arrival and applications, voter ID requirements, electioneering concerns, and instances of in-person intimidation.

Anthony Gutierrez, Executive Director of Common Cause Texas, commented on these observations: “In this election, we saw a large number of fairly minor issues across the state but thankfully very few serious issues.” He also noted that low voter turnout remains a significant concern: “The single biggest problem we saw, in my opinion, was far too few Texans voting.”

Gutierrez highlighted that despite counting efforts nearing completion, Texas is expected to rank low in terms of voter turnout compared to other states. He criticized state leaders for not addressing this issue: “If the politicians in charge would like to see more Texans showing up at the polls, we have a long list of improvements to improve our elections.”

He suggested potential solutions such as online voter registration, allowing closer-to-election-day registration opportunities, expanding vote-by-mail access, requiring polling sites on college campuses, and investing more in election infrastructure. Gutierrez expressed hope that legislators will address these participation challenges in future sessions: “We’re hoping this upcoming session will be the one where legislators finally get serious about tackling our serious participation problem.”