Thread: El Paso Voter Turnout abysmal: Officials don't have solution

Turnout abysmal: Officials don't have solution for attracting voters to polls

by Marty Schladen \ El Paso Times
Posted: 05/22/2011 09:18:51 AM MDT

By any standard, voter turnout rates in El Paso city elections have long been pathetic, and they appear to be getting worse.

In May 2005, when the mayoral office and all eight city representative seats were on the ballot in a historic election, less than 13 percent of registered voters went to the polls. In the May 14 election, in which four El Paso city representatives, the recall of Socorro Mayor Willie Gandara Sr., a crucial school-tax election and other important issues were on the ballot, less than 8 percent of the registered electorate voted.

"It's kind of sad because it affects them directly," said Brian Heller, El Paso's assistant city clerk.

He was referring to elections for the City Council, which controls a $700 million budget and decides things such as how the city will grow, where roads are built and whether you can talk on your cellphone while you drive on those roads.

But getting more people to vote in local elections is complicated.

Angel Rodriguez, 30, exemplifies the problem.

He lives in District 8, or the South-West, city representative district. He was not aware that the council seat was up for grabs because incumbent Beto O'Rourke was not seeking re-election.

"I didn't vote and I wish I did," Rodriguez said on Friday. "I don't have a reason. I just have a lot of personal dilemmas."

For one, he's out of work, and looking for a job is one of his biggest concerns, Rodriguez said. But also said he didn't feel as if his vote would make a difference even though he objected to many of the ordinances the current City Council has passed, such as ones requiring a breeder's license to sell puppies or kittens or one limiting the number of chickens you can have.
Rodriguez is unusual in his openness about not voting. More than 92 percent of El Pasoan's didn't vote, but most people Downtown late Friday morning seemed not to want to talk about it.

"I don't speak English," one woman said in perfect English.

East-Valley city Rep. Eddie Holguin wishes it were otherwise.

"Every vote does count and everybody has a voice -- especially when we're sending troops into other countries to give their people the right to vote," said Holguin, who was handily re-elected May 14.

Still, the turnout in many cases keeps dropping. In raw numbers, it fell from 2,207 in 2007 in Holguin's East Side district to 1,998 on May 14.

O'Rourke agreed that the 1,923 who voted in his district was a pathetic showing.

"A little over 1,900 people deciding the fate of the city," he said of a city of 650,000. "Any of those seats (on the council) can decide some of these big issues."

The 5 percent turnout in the South-West district was the worst among the four El Paso City Council races on the ballot. The best turnout was on the West Side, or District 1, where 10 percent of registered voters went to the polls.

The West Side district was the scene of a hard-fought contest that is headed for a runoff between incumbent Ann Morgan Lilly and Lyda Ness Garcia. It stands to reason that turnout was better there, said Michael McDonald, an expert on voter turnout who teaches at George Mason University and is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

"What's going to drive turnout is voter interest," he said. He explained that compelling issues, a close race and attractive candidates are a recipe for strong participation. "The bast way to have low turnout is to have one candidate on the ticket."

O'Rourke said he announced that he would not seek re-election a year in advance in the hope that there would be plenty of time for good candidates to throw their hats in the ring.

"I think when you have well-run campaigns in tightly contested elections, you get better turnouts," he said.

Turnout dropped in his district from 4,890 in 2005 when he won a barnburner against incumbent Anthony Cobos, to 3,350 in 2007, when O'Rourke thumped Trini Acevedo, to 1,923 on May 14, when the well-organized and well-financed Cortney Niland beat a field of other newcomers.

Ironically, turnout in local elections is dropping at a time when participation in presidential elections is growing. McDonald said turnouts for national elections have increased since a low point in the 1990s.

He said techniques used by both parties to reach out to voters and speak to them in person seem to be responsible.

Some of those same techniques might be responsible for reduced turnouts in local races, said city Rep. Susie Byrd, whose seat was not on the ballot May 14. Local candidates need to marshal precious resources, so they purchase lists of those who voted in each of the past three elections and send them campaign literature and knock on their doors.

"You're only knocking on the doors of people who are 100 percent voters," Byrd said.

That leaves out many young people and newcomers and people who vote in one election cycle but not the next. And McDonald said those face-to-face contacts between candidates and residents are an important way to get people to the polls.

"You're talking to fewer and fewer people as the years go by," Byrd said.

One way to boost turnouts and save money might be to change the election calendar. While less than 8 percent turned out for the May 14 election, more than 48 percent went to the polls in El Paso County when Barack Obama and John McCain were atop the ballot in November 2008.

Moving city elections to the second Tuesday in November would boost turnout and save hundreds of thousands of dollars by eliminating a separate election. But McDonald said it could come at the expense of local issues.

"The lower-ballot races tend to be crowded out," McDonald said.

For example, if voters are bombarded with arguments over whether Obama really is an American or if Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, what to do with San Jacinto Plaza can get lost in the shuffle.

And it can cost local candidates more money to make their voices heard over the din of a national election, McDonald said.

Some experiments with how people vote appear to be improving turnouts in local elections.

For example, some jurisdictions have tried voting centers -- polling locations in places such as shopping malls where any registered voter can cast early or Election Day ballots. Modern technology makes the centers practical, and McDonald said they can save money by eliminating the need for so many precinct polling places.

"There's good evidence that if you make voting part of your everyday chores, more people vote," McDonald said.

Oregon, Washington and Colorado have also reported increased turnouts as a result of voting by mail. Some places make such voting voluntary by allowing voters to sign up as "permanent absentees," but others, such as Oregon, require that all voting be done by mail.

Byrd said that in El Paso, the City Council might rethink the staggered elections that started in the 2007 cycle. Turnouts appear to be particularly low in years when the mayor's office isn't on the ballot.

The idea behind staggered terms was to ensure continuity on the council, but tiny turnouts in non-mayoral years might be too high a price, Byrd said.

"It's just bad," she said.

Marty Schladen may be reached at mschladen@elpasotimes.com; 546-6127.

District 1, West Side: 47,533 registered voters; 4,749 votes cast, 10 percent

District 5, East Side: 46,422 registered voters; 3,161 votes cast, 7 percent

District 6, East-Valley: 40,165 registered voters; 1,998 votes cast, 5 percent

District 8, South/West: 31,153 registered voters; 1,923 votes cast, 6 percent

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18114939

RELATED

82 percent of the people in El Paso County are Hispanic

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-228547.html

Could the reason so many don't vote be because they can not legally vote?

Originally Posted by sugarhighwolf

Could the reason so many don't vote be because they can not legally vote?

Bingo!! Although that doesn't always stop them.

""I don't speak English," one woman said in perfect English."

If I had a nickel for that one.....

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

RELATED

82 percent of the people in El Paso County are Hispanic

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-228547.html

Yep, and I'm going to suggest that many of them probably have little education and little or no knowledge of local politics. It's also possible that many of those listed on the voting rolls shouldn't be there. Even those folks registered to vote by folks like ACORN know enough not to actually show up at the polls to vote (assuming they are illegal).