Straight-ticket Voting in Texas: 2016




Texas is one of only ten states that allows straight-ticket voting (Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah). Straight-ticket voting has been instrumental in the success of Republican candidates for statewide office in Texas, where no Democrat has been elected since 1994. 

In 2016, in 25 large Texas counties, the straight-ticket vote helped candidates in countywide elections. For example, in Harris County, every Democratic candidate for District Court Judge—24 were elected—won, and in the process, eleven Republican incumbents were defeated. The size of the straight-ticket vote in those 25 counties is depicted in the table below:

County
Total Vote
ST Vote
Rep ST
Dem ST
% ST
% Rep
% Dem
HARRIS
1,304,480
885,903
401,255
471,290
67.91%
45.29%
53.20%
DALLAS
750,649
508,910
182,784
317,100
67.80%
35.92%
62.31%
TARRANT
667,837
447,799
246,814
192,887
67.05%
55.12%
43.07%
BEXAR
593,973
340,609
137,368
195,215
57.34%
40.33%
57.31%
TRAVIS
462,593
251,538
75,605
168,264
54.38%
30.06%
66.89%
COLLIN
362,902
230,674
142,472
84,323
63.56%
61.76%
36.56%
DENTON
293,287
193,196
122,321
67,070
65.87%
63.31%
34.72%
EL PASO
212,431
131,579
28,965
98,910
61.94%
22.01%
75.17%
FORT BEND
261,761
202,682
96,020
103,360
77.43%
47.37%
51.00%
HIDALGO
174,246
119,175
28,673
87,542
68.39%
24.06%
73.46%
MONTGOMERY
205,676
145,753
115,391
28,266
70.87%
79.17%
19.39%
WILLIAMSON
204,258
116,765
66,506
47,249
57.17%
56.96%
40.47%
GALVESTON
122,547
76,738
47,904
27,688
62.62%
62.43%
36.08%
NUECES
103,980
58,440
27,830
29,367
56.20%
47.62%
50.25%
CAMERON
91,804
51,803
36,111
14,264
56.43%
69.71%
27.54%
BRAZORIA
120,911
75,822
47,553
27,125
62.71%
62.72%
35.77%
BELL
95,252
57,203
31,849
24,144
60.05%
55.68%
42.21%
LUBBOCK
98,847
54,882
38,756
15,170
55.52%
70.62%
27.64%
JEFFERSON
87,542
58,785
24,598
33,639
67.15%
41.84%
57.22%
MCLENNAN
79,644
50,217
31,577
17,929
63.05%
62.88%
35.70%
SMITH
84,276
53,514
37,205
15,607
63.50%
69.52%
29.16%
WEBB
57,574
36,879
6,101
29,775
64.05%
16.54%
80.74%
HAYS
71,945
43,645
22,054
20,083
60.66%
50.53%
46.01%
BRAZOS
      67,029      31,402      19,357      11,157 46.85% 61.64% 35.53%
ELLIS
63,903
39,548
28,854
10,168
61.89%
72.96%
25.71%

6,639,554
4,263,611
2,044,030
2,137,634
64.22%
47.94%
50.14%

In the twenty-ffive counties, whose voters cast 74.4 percent of the total votes cast in Texas, the straight-ticket vote constituted 64.2 percent of all votes cast in those counties. That percentage is the highest percentage of straight-tickets cast in a presidential election in Texas. The graphs depict the straight-ticket vote in the most Republican counties and the most Democratic counties, respectively.



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