According to the Texas Secretary of State 78.59% (17,183,996 people) of the Voting age population (VAP) (21,866,700 people) are registered to vote.
Out of the more than 17 million people registered to vote, only 11.3% voted in the 2022 Republican primary and 6.2% voted in the Democratic primary.
Put another way, 3,029,773 people decided who gets to run for office to tell all 21,866,700 people what to do.
It is easy to get lost in the numbers. In a Democracy, voters have the power to decide the laws under which they live. Those decisions are made by either a vote of the people (think of ballot propositions or constitutional amendments) or through elected officials who vote on behalf of the people in their district.
You may think, well, my vote doesn’t matter.
Well, it does.
Just look at a couple of Legislative primary races where there were less than 100 votes between first-place and second-place candidate.
TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 64 –88 votes difference
Top two Republican candidates
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VOTES
|
|
|
R
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✓Lynn Stucky Incumbent
|
9,275
|
|
|
R
|
Andy Hopper
|
9,187
|
|
TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 70 - 78 votes Difference
Top two Democrat candidates
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VOTES
|
|
|
D
|
✓Cassandra Garcia Hernandez
|
2,513
|
|
|
D
|
✓Mihaela Elizabeth Plesa
|
2,435
|
|
House District 64 contains Wise and parts of Denton counties. According to the State Auditor's office, there are approximately 1,966 state employees in Denton County and 129 in Wise County.
House District 70 contains part of Collin County. Again, according to the State Auditor’s office, there are 570 state employees in Collin County.
Every vote counts.