Of all the states that have held Democratic and Republican primaries so far, Texas had the second lowest participation rate, reports Amarillo.com.Only Louisiana had a lower turnout rate.
Texas pulled in the most voters in state history, more than 4.2 million of them. But that number accounts for less than 22 percent of residents 18 and older. One reason for the low participation may be the 2011 Texas voter ID law.
President Obama criticized the law last week, saying: “The folks who are governing the good state of Texas aren’t interested in having more people participate.” The president insisted that the Voter ID law is meant to suppress voter turnout by Democratic residents. Governor Greg Abbott has defended the law, saying: “We don’t want to open the system up to . . . ways of voting that would promote or allow voter fraud.”
