By the Numbers: The Rise of Straight-ticket Voting

Texas is one of nine states where voters can cast a straight-ticket ballot, voting for every candidate of a chosen political party with a single action. No state’s voters utilize this option more than Texans. In the last two general elections, more than three out of every five voters cast straight-ticket ballots, nearly double (as a percentage of votes cast) the rate of 24 years ago, when Democrats were still winning and holding state office.

Combined

The increasing use of straight-ticket voting makes it less likely that a candidate from a disadvantaged party can “split the ticket” and win despite the fact that a majority of voters in a district prefers the other party.

In 2006, former Rep. David Farabee (D-Wichita Falls) received nearly 25% more votes than the average statewide Democratic candidate in his district. That year, straight-ticket voters represented 34% of all votes cast in Wichita Co., and all Republican candidates had a 1,700-vote advantage because of those straight-ticket votes. Four years later, the Democratic candidate received just 2% more than the average statewide Democratic candidate, and straight-ticket voters accounted for 53% of all votes cast in Wichita Co. Every Republican candidate that year had a 7,100-vote advantage.

At the state level, the effect of increased straight-ticket voting manifests itself in the spread between candidates of the same party. In the 1994 general election, then-Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock received 78% more votes than Marvin Gregory, the lowest performing statewide candidate. Twenty years later, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis received 15% more votes than David Alameel, the lowest performing statewide candidate.

At the local level, the impact of increased straight-ticket voting has been a dramatic decrease in the number of contested races for county offices. Even as the state turned red as a whole, many counties were still blue to purple as recently as 2008. This year, only one party fielded candidates for county offices in 135 of the state’s 254 counties. Not a single Democrat ran for county office in 123 counties, and no Republicans sought county office in 12 counties. Only 37 counties feature a sheriff’s race between a Democrat and a Republican.

We mused yesterday that voters’ generally negative views about the presumptive presidential nominees could cause independent voters and voters who weakly lean to one party to sit out the election. Combined with a general lack of partisan competition in many parts of the state, their combined effects could would accelerate the growth of straight-ticket voting, potentially bringing its share to closer to two out of every three votes cast.

Straight-ticket voting will be a recurrent theme this summer as we look at competitive, and potentially competitive, races in Texas.