Texas eliminates straight-ticket voting option

If you have been a straight-ticket, or one-punch voter, get ready for a change in November. Thanks to a new law, that option will no longer be available for Texas voters. You must vote for a candidate in each race individually, instead of simply choosing Democrat or Republican at the top of the ballot.

In 2017, Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill to remove the straight ticket voting option starting in September 2020. This year, members of the Democratic party tried to block that law but a federal judge threw out the lawsuit, guaranteeing no straight-ticket voting option this November.

Shannon Lackey, Randall County Elections Administrator, said this change and having to space out the polls for social distancing are going to leave voters standing in line.

“In Randall County, when we have fifty or sixty thousand people voting in the last general election, thirty thousand of them voted straight party,” Lackey said. “That means they walked in, they hit one button and it selected every candidate that is affiliated with that party.”

Roll-off could also occur, which is when voters don’t make a selection for every contest on a ballot. Dave Rausch, Teel Bivins Professor of Political Science at West Texas A&M University, said this happens most commonly when voters are unfamiliar with the candidates.

“In some cases, if you get down too far, people are going to say, 'I have no idea who that is or what they do.',” Rausch said. “In a sense, how were you voting on them before?  It seems like, even with the one punch voting, you should know a little bit about the parties you’re voting for.”

Amarillo voters will have the option to vote on three propositions this November. The elimination of one punch voting could increase the amount of votes these items get.

“A lot of people would just punch Republican and leave,” Rausch said. “Usually they put a big sign on the wall that says there is two parts to this ballot, but people would not pay attention, punch their one and done and leave.”

This November, a total of six states will have the straight-ticket voting option.

To avoid long lines, officials recommend voting early. You can vote in-person as early as October 13th.