Texas Politics & Government: Ideas and Institutions

  In the contests that I've been following, Governor Abbott picked up four votes for school vouchers, which should be enough to secure the program in the next regular session. Dade Phelan survived his challenge, but others did not. Now, the emphasis turns to what kind of program can pass the legislature. Stay tuned!

  There are several contests that I will be following during the May 28th Republican primary run-off elections. The most important is the contest in which the incumbent speaker of the House, Dade Phelan, is opposed by GOP activist David Covey. In the first primary, Covey bested Phelan but did not receive a majority of the vote. These are all of the contests that I will be following. The future of the Republican Party of Texas hangs in the balance. Will the traditional Republicans win? Or will the MAGA wing win? It's probably also the time to consider why Texas doesn't support Instant Runoff or Ranked Choice Voting in elections that require the winning candidate to receive a majority of the vote.  

  On April 30th, early voting ended for the May 5th local elections in Travis County, Texas. The total vote was 35,683, which is 3.98 percent of registered voters in Travis County. If 60 percent of the total vote was cast during the early voting period, then approximately 6.64 percent of registered voters will constitute the total vote. See the chart below for the cumulative percentage.