Full-ballot, Not Straight-party, Voters Flipped HD65
Nov 28, 2018 | House Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
When Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton), author of the bill that ends single-punch, straight-party voting in 2020, narrowly lost to Democratic challenger Michelle Beckley, we assumed straight-party voting was the reason. After all, in the largest counties, several...
Democrats Carve Deeply Into Once Ruby Red Tarrant County
Nov 25, 2018 | Straight-ticket Voting
Tarrant Co., an epicenter of the Tea Party movement and a Republican stronghold for decades, narrowly preferred U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) over U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (D). O’Rourke became the first Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate to carry the county since...
Record 77% of Harris Co. Voters Cast a Straight-party Ballot
Nov 20, 2018 | Straight-ticket Voting
More than 930K Harris Co. voters cast a straight-party vote in 2018, representing more than three quarters of all votes cast there, shattering county records for straight-party voting. Democratic candidates enjoyed a straight-party advantage of more than 105K votes on...
Straight-party Voting Goes Out With a Bang
Nov 18, 2018 | Campaign News, Straight-ticket Voting
Two out of every three Texan voters cast a straight-party ballot in the 2018 general election, the highest such percentage for any election for which data is available and likely the highest since at least the end of the poll tax era. Unless the Legislature acts, it...
Dallas Co., Birthplace of the State Republican Party, Turns Deeply Blue
Nov 8, 2018 | House Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
Dallas was a cradle for the modern Republican Party. Captain J.F. Lucey, a Dallas oilman and nationally prominent Republican, founded the Republican Club of Texas in 1947, which was the forerunner of the current Republican Party of Texas. Republican gubernatorial...
Predicting the 2018 General Election, Part 1
Nov 4, 2018 | Political Climate, Statewide Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
This is the first of two analyses that will attempt to prognosticate Tuesday’s general election. Here we focus on the overall political climate. Our next, shorter, analysis will look at individual races. 2018’s Place in History It would be easy to say that we are...
Straight-party Voting Restored in New Mexico
Aug 30, 2018 | Straight-ticket Voting
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D) has reinstated the single-punch, straight-party voting option for the general election. The state stopped using the single-punch option after the 2012 general election, during which 41% of all votes cast were...
Straight-party Vote Analysis for HD114
Jun 28, 2017 | House Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
In a recent tweet, Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) said, “The Ds have the long knives out for me” upon learning that a second Democrat had taken formal steps toward challenging him in November. Dallas attorneys Rockwell Bower and John Turner have formed campaign...
Straight-party Vote Analysis for SD10
Jun 18, 2017 | Senate Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
What a difference a single envelope can make. On January 23, 2013, Texas state senators chose envelopes, one-by-one, that determined their fate for a decade. Inside those envelopes were slips of paper numbered one through 31. An odd number gave senators a four-year...
Straight-party Vote Analysis for HD115
Jun 4, 2017 | House Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
In a state where single-punch, straight-party voters continue to gain influence in determining election outcomes, it was the voters who work their way through the whole ballot that swung HD115 last year. By just over a thousand votes, Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving) won...
Single-punch Elimination Clears Final Legislative Hurdle
May 20, 2017 | Legislation, Straight-ticket Voting
JThe House concurred in the Senate’s amendment to House Bill 25 by Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton), sending the measure to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. The bill would end the practice of voting for all of a party’s candidates using a single punch, mark or other action....
Straight-party Voting Bill Clears House Committee
Mar 13, 2017 | Legislation, Straight-ticket Voting
The House Elections Committee approved a bill to end the “single-punch” option for straight-party voting by a 5-2 party line vote following more than an hour of public testimony. Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton) explained that House Bill 25 was about getting voters to...
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