Do Texas Votes Reflect the State’s Demographics?

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By Becky FogelOctober 10, 2016 12:17 pm

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This year Texas could see 15 million registered voters by Election Day. But just because people sign up to vote doesn’t mean they’re actually going to show up and cast a ballot.

Personal finance website WalletHub wanted to see how the demographics of each state’s voters compare to the state as a whole, including gender, race, and age.

Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with WalletHub, says they looked at all 50 states.

“We compared those to how many people voted in 2012 and we compared how many whites voted compared to the white population, kind of went down our list there,” she says. “So we saw ultimately how representative the states were compared to their actual population.”

Gonzalez says Texas narrowly escaped the bottom 10, due to the demographic disconnect between the general population and who actually votes.

“When you’re looking at females to males, it’s about 95 percent accurate compared to the actual population,” she says. “When you’re looking at race, there’s about an 84 percent index. The most improvement can be seen in the age category: 18 to 44-year-olds are the most underrepresented so the age really is what gets Texas toward the bottom of the list.”

The last day to register to vote in Texas before Election Day is tomorrow, October 11.




Former Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell is getting a promotion. After Pope Francis picked Farrell to head up a new Vatican department focused on Catholics worldwide, now he’s going to be a cardinal. Farrell is one of 17 new cardinals the pope announced on Sunday, all of whom will become official on November 19.




The third and final game of the American League Division Series that pitted rivals the Texas Rangers against the Toronto Blue Jays ended with a dash home by Blue Jay third baseman Josh Donaldson, quashing the Rangers’ dreams of more post-season play.

The Blue Jays, who clinched the game last night in the tenth inning 7-6, swept the Rangers, despite the Rangers finishing with the best record in the American League this year.