39th
Where turnout from last nights’s general and constitutional amendment election ranks among the last 40 years of November general elections. Only the 2011 general election (5.37%) was worse.
Just 5.8% of registered voters cast ballots in this week’s general election. Seven constitutional amendment propositions, all of which passed, were the only statewide contests. Dozens of municipalities, school districts and other local jurisdictions had general and special elections for local office, bond propositions, charter amendments and special district authorizations on the ballot locally.
Odd-year General Elections
30.56% – 1987
26.25% – 1991
17.97% – 2005
14.12% – 1989
12.59% – 1993
12.55% – 1981
12.21% – 2003
12.05% – 1985
11.75% – 1983
11.34% – 2015
10.60% – 1997
9.54% – 1977
8.71% – 2007
8.55% – 2013
8.38% – 1999
8.18% – 2009
7.86% – 1995
7.79% – 1979
6.91% – 2001
5.77% – 2017
5.37% – 2011
Gubernatorial Elections
50.87% – 1994
50.55% – 1990
49.74% – 1982
47.23% – 1986
41.71% – 1978
37.53% – 2010
36.24% – 2002
33.70% – 2014
33.64% – 2006
32.40% – 1998
Presidential Elections
72.92% – 1992
68.40% – 1980
68.32% – 1984
66.17% – 1988
59.50% – 2008
59.39% – 2016
58.58% – 2012
56.57% – 2004
53.24% – 1996
51.81% – 2000
Turnout was below 5% in 141 of the state’s 225 counties. Harris Co. saw turnout of 6.4%, a significant drop from 2015, when 19.5% of registered voters turned out. In 2015, Houston voters agreed to a charter change that increased terms of office for the mayor and city council to four years, so Mayor Sylvester Turner and the city council were not on the ballot this year.
Among counties with at least 2K registered voters, turnout was highest in Brown (25.0%), Comanche (30.1%) and Erath (26.2%) Cos., where voters overwhelmingly voted down a local college’s proposal to annex swaths of those counties, and impose a tax on property owners, to fund expanded operations and scholarships for area students. More than 97% of voters in those counties opposed the proposal.
©2017 Texas Election Source LLC
