Too hard to vote
Harris County is making changes that Texas should promote to improve anemic turnout.
Harris County is taking steps to make voting more convenient — reforms that should be copied throughout Texas to increase notoriously sagging voter turnout.
State election officials recently approved Harris County’s application to use centrally located voting centers along with traditional polling places during high-turnout elections. That’s good news leading up to the 2020 presidential election, which could have a huge turnout if the crowd competing to become the Democratic Party’s nominee is any indication.
County Clerk Diane Trautman says the voting centers will allow voters to conveniently cast their ballots near their job or school, which could increase turnout by at least 2 to 5 percent. Turnout in Travis County, which began using voting centers in 2011, has increased more than 10 percent, according to election officials.
Voting centers became more feasible in 2017 after Harris County began using electronic poll books, which allow poll workers to immediately check on an iPad whether someone who wants to vote is registered. That innovation initiated by former County Clerk Stan Stanart opened the door to replace voting by precinct with a countywide system.
The next step in that direction was taken by Harris County Commissioners Court when it voted unanimously in June to ask the state to approve countywide polling places for general elections. Trautman said a trial run of countywide voting in the May school board election was successful. She said turnout was low, but the test revealed areas to improve.
In making countywide voting a reality, Trautman should keep in mind voters’ affection for popular polling sites with historical significance. Trautman has admitted some polling locations might be consolidated but promised that won’t happen without input from the affected voters. That’s good to hear.
The county clerk should look for ways to cut costs, but the greater goal must be expanding democracy by increasing voter participation. That’s especially important in Texas, where some politicians seem more concerned with shrinking the turnout when it comes to minority voters.
That became glaringly apparent when the state’s voter ID law was passed in 2013. That law was later ruled discriminatory by federal judges, but it has since been replaced by a statute that so far has survived judicial scrutiny by listing multiple identification options besides a driver’s license.
Even with those options, requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls is an unnecessary restriction designed to discourage black and brown voters — just like the poll taxes Texas employed decades ago.
The argument that voter ID laws are needed to prevent voter fraud is bogus. The laws’ proponents have yet to offer tangible evidence in any court proceeding to support that assertion. Texans should ask their legislators to stop latching on to ridiculous claims about voter fraud and make it easier to vote, not harder.
One way Texas could do that is by joining the 21 states that allow sameday registration. An analysis by the U.S. Voting Project and NonProfitVote showed seven of the 10 states that saw voter turnout exceed 60 percent in the 2018 midterm elections allow same-day registration.
In contrast, eight of the 10 states with the lowest turnouts, including Texas (46 percent), require registration four weeks prior to an election.
Other methods that have increased voter turnout include online registration, which is particularly effective among younger voters; on-thespot registration, typically at a Department of Motor Vehicles site; and early voting, which Texas does, but only between the 15th and fourth days before an election. Early voting lasts more than a month in some states.
Democracy works best when people are encouraged to participate. Voter ID laws and arbitrarily set registration and election periods do just the opposite. Trautman and other Texas election officials trying to boost turnout should be commended. Politicians with partisan agendas that handcuff the democratic process should be shown the door.