Voter turnout bodes well for Texas, outpacing 2014 numbers

The past few weeks have demoralized many Americans.

Acts of virulent hatred have dominated the news, including the deadliest attack on Jews on American soil in our nation’s history. Last Saturday, a gunman entered

a synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood and murdered 11 people, while shouting “all Jews must die.” In such times, true leaders seek to bind up the nation’s wounds. President Donald Trump has poured salt in them — while continuing to vent his grievances against Democrats, immigrants and the media.

There’s an election just around the corner, after all. Early voting began on Oct. 22. And Trump has always sought to make a virtue of his own moral turpitude. He seems to think his supporters share his desire to win at any cost.

But there’s more to life than tax cuts. There’s more to life than conservative judges. And those achievements have come at a very heavy cost.

Americans who agree can

take some comfort in what’s happened in Texas lately.

Our electorate is notoriously apathetic, but lately voters have shown signs of life. In fact, during the early voting period, we shattered expectations.

Roughly 4.65 million Texans voted in the last midterm election cycle in 2014. This year, Election Day is Nov. 6 — but we may have already have beaten the record for total turnout. According to the Texas Secretary

of State, as of Friday morning, more than four million ballots had been cast during the early voting period in the state’s 30 largest counties, where roughly three-quarters of Texas’s registered voters live.

It’s impossible to know whether this surge is good news for Democrats or Republicans, but I’d guess the former. This is Texas, after all. Democrats have a floor, and Republicans have a