Voter & Non-Electoral Participation in Houston 

Voter registration and turnout in the region dip after peaking in 2020

After the 2020 election inspired the biggest increase in voter registration and turnout in the region’s recent history, they dipped back to normal levels in 2024, other measures of civic engagement also decline. 

The data

Houston’s voter registration rate continues to outpace statewide and national rates

In the United States, citizens 18 and older can vote in an election. The U.S. Constitution grants the states the responsibility of overseeing federal and local elections. This means the way in which elections are administered differs from state to state. For example, in all but one state a person must register to vote before they are allowed to participate in an election. In Texas, voting requires registration at least 30 days prior to an upcoming election. The applicant must submit an application to the county registrar and meet several requirements in order to become a registered voter. 

The total number of registered voters in Houston’s three-county area has grown steadily since 2000, in parallel with the growth in the overall population. Since 2014, Harris County has gained more than 630,000 registered voters (31% increase). Registered voters have increased by 174% in Fort Bend and 147% in Montgomery counties over the last decade.

Texas saw its number of registered voters dipped immediately after the 2008 presidential election, but has steadily increased since 2010. As of 2024, Texas now has 18.6 million registered voters. At the national level, the change in registered voters has fluctuated over time, ticking up during presidential elections and ticking down during the midterms.

Registering to vote is the first step to voting in local, state, and national elections. Each of Houston’s three counties has a higher share of voting-age citizens  registered to vote than both the state and the nation. Despite this strength, there is still a large number of people who are eligible to vote but are not registered.

In Fort Bend, 92% of the eligible population is registered to vote, as is 91% in Montgomery. Combined, this means approximately 90,000 people who could be registered but are not. The Harris County voter registration rate is 90%, reflecting about 290,000 eligible voters who are not registered.

More than one-third of registered voters in the Houston region don’t cast a ballot

Voting in the U.S. is not mandatory and is considered both a right and a privilege. Depending on eligibility criteria, which states determine, voting can be done in-person or by-mail and conducted early or on election day. As Houston’s population grows, we expect to see more voters in our region. Voter turnout in presidential elections typically exceeds that in midterm elections. About 2.2 million people in Houston’s three-county region cast a ballot in the 2024 Presidential Election, only slightly lower than the number cast in the 2020 Presidential Election.

Voter turnout rates can be measured in two ways: by the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot; and the percentage of voting-age citizens who cast a ballot. The former indicator tells us the level of participation among those who are eligible, whereas the latter signals the of interest in the political process overall.

While the voter registration rate in Houston’s three-county region is consistently higher than the nation overall, voter turnout among the registered in the Houston area is lower than the national rate—typically by 20–30 percentage points.

In the 2024 Presidential Election, 65% of registered voters in Fort Bend cast a ballot, 58% in Harris, and 68% in Montgomery counties. These rates are lower than they were in the 2020 Presidential Election which inspired the highest levels of voter participation in at least the last 15 years, despite occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to 2020, voter turnout in 2024 fell 9 points in Fort Bend, 8 points in Harris, and 6 points in Montgomery counties. The declines in 2024 erase the increases we saw in 2020.  

Voter turnout in the 2022 Midterm Elections follow a similar pattern as the presidential election, but with double-digit increases in 2018 and then smaller declines in 2022. Despite these declines, voter turnout in 2022 remained higher than in 2014. About 48% of registered voters in Fort Bend County cast a ballot in 2022, compared to 43% in Harris County and 21% in Montgomery County. Our region’s presidential and midterm turnout rates continue to lag considerably compared to those of the U.S. overall.

Houston-area voter turnout rates are higher when compared to the citizen voting-age population instead of registered voters only. For example, 60% of the voting-age citizens in Fort Bend County voted in the 2024 election. In Montgomery County, 62% of its voting-age citizens cast votes in 2024. These turnout rates are higher than the U.S. rate of 63% for the same election. In Harris County, 52% of voting-age citizens voted in 2024. In other words, about 40% of the Houston region’s eligible voters didn’t participate in the most recent presidential election. Although Houston’s voter registration rate is higher than the nation’s, the turnout rate still lags. 

Typically, voter turnout among the eligible population is lower during midterm elections than presidential ones. After seeing big increases in turnout from 2014 to 2018, they dipped during the 2022 Midterms but are still higher than they were in 2010 and 2014. Regionally, voter turnout is consistently highest in Fort Bend County and lowest in Harris County.

Early voting in Houston is a popular choice

One aspect of each state’s responsibility in overseeing elections is to decide if, when, and how to allow voting opportunities prior to Election Day. Research indicates early voting is an effective approach to increasing voter turnout—particularly among women and those of working age—by allowing increased time and flexibility to cast a vote.¹ Early voting in Texas takes place in one of two ways: by showing up in person during the prescribed early-voting period or by voting by mail.

Early voting has been a consistently popular choice with voters in the three-county area. In fact, for every November election since at least 2008, more than 50% of the total votes were cast during the early-voting period. Early voting peaked during the 2020 election and normalized in 2024. Houstonians and Texans are much more likely than the average American to vote early.

Contacting public officials is a rare occurrence in Greater Houston

The ability to contact elected officials to discuss our concerns is one of the trademark features of American democracy. However, few in our region take advantage of this right.

In 2023, the latest available data, less than 4% of the population in the Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) contacted a public official at least once in a year. This is over a one-percentage-point decline from 2019. The contact rates in the Houston area are lower than the state (5%) and nation (8%). When the citizenry doesn’t reach out to their elected officials, not only do they lose the chance to advocate for their position, the elected official loses the ability to understand how a policy will directly affect their constituents.

Census participation is an important component of civic health

Another constitutionally designated civic activity is participation in the decennial census.Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution mandates a count of every person living in the United States. The importance of an accurate count cannot be overstated. Not only does it determine how many seats a state has in the House of Representatives, it is also used to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds.

In 2020, Texas received an estimated $150 billion in census-guided programs. An undercount can affect the distribution of federal money for the next 10 years. For example, according to a study by the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, a 1% undercount in Texas’s 2010 population would have cost the state almost $300 million in tax-payer dollars returned to Texas in 2015.³

Being proactive in responding to the census count ensures states continue to receive the correct amount of federal dollars for health clinics (and other similar entities within the healthcare industry), funding for school lunch programs, and recovery initiatives for natural disasters in Houston. Households that don’t return their census forms are counted by census workers walking neighborhoods and visiting households, which increases the chance of not being counted. In fact, CUNY’s Center for Urban Research has found that low self-response rates correlate to lower census quality where people are not counted.⁴

While most states set up a statewide commission to help ensure an accurate count, Texas was one of three states that did not support this initiative. Given the lack of coordination at the state level, local governments tried to fill this role. Fort Bend created a Complete Count Committee, while Harris County and the City of Houston teamed up to create their own Complete Count Committee with a website, outreach program, and toolkit.

With those efforts, over 75% of households in Fort Bend County self-responded to the 2020 Census online, by phone, or by mail. This was a three-point increase from the 2010 Census and is above both the state and national rates. Montgomery County’s self-response rate was 67% for both the 2010 and 2020 census. Despite the outreach efforts, Harris County’s rate fell by two points from 65% in 2010 to 63% in 2020.

Continue reading about social connectedness and volunteering in Houston

Helpful Articles by Understanding Houston:

• Houston is Generous
• Houston is Engaged
• Greater Houston Area Sets Record Numbers in 2020 Voter Participation
• A Look at Electoral Participation in Houston: Past and Present
• The Importance of the Census in COVID’s America