Voter & Non-Electoral Participation in Houston 

Voter registration and turnout levels in the region have risen while non-electoral participation lags

The 2020 election inspired the biggest increase in voter registration and turnout in the region’s recent history, but Houston has more work to do on other measures of civic engagement. 

The data

Houston’s voter registration rate continues to grow

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 the three-county area has grown steadily over the past 12 years in parallel with the growth in the overall population. Since the 2008 presidential election, Harris County has gained over half a million registered voters. Since 2008, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties have increased their number of registered voters by 61% and 52%, respectively, compared to 27% for Harris County.

Texas saw its number of registered voters decline immediately after the 2008 presidential election, but the number of registered voters has steadily increased since 2010. As of 2020, Texas now has nearly 17 million registered voters. At the national level, the change in registered voters has fluctuated over the past 12 years. However, it reached a new high of 168 million registered voters in 2020.

Registering to vote is the first step to voting in Houston and national elections. All three counties have higher shares of eligible voters who are registered voters than both the state and the nation. Despite this strength, there is still a large number of people who are eligible to vote but who are not yet registered.

In Fort Bend, 95% of the eligible population is registered to vote, as is 93% in Montgomery. Combined, this represents approximately 50,000 people who could be registered. The Harris County voter registration rate is 88%, reflecting about 320,000 eligible voters who are not yet registered. Harris County’s voter registration rate fell from 88% in 2008 to 82% in 2014 and did not fully rebound to its 2008 level until the 2020 presidential election.

Research shows that voter registration rates vary by demographic characteristics. For example, educational attainment plays a role in the likelihood of registering to vote. In the nine-county Houston metropolitan area in 2020, citizens of voting age with lower levels of education were less likely to be registered voters than their more educated counterparts. The registration rate for residents with at least a bachelor’s degree was 25 percentage points higher than those with a high school diploma only. 

In 2020, Black citizens had the highest voter registration rate among selected racial/ethnic groups (82%). Additionally, Hispanic citizens were 13 and 22 percentage points less likely to be registered to vote than white or Black residents, respectively. Between 2016 and 2020, Black voters made the most gains in registration (11-point increase), while Hispanic registered voters increased 7 percentage points. Between 2016 and 2020, the share of citizens who registered to vote increased for all groups including Hispanics but estimates indicate their voter registration rates remain the lowest of the three racial/ethnic groups in this data set.

While not represented in the data set above, nationally, Asian Americans increased their turnout rate by more than any other racial or ethnic group between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, with 59% of Asian-American citizens of voting age voting. Voting rates vary depending on Asian-American ethnic group with Indians (71%), Japanese (66%), and Koreans (60%) voting at the highest rates (and much higher compared to 2016). Furthermore, naturalized citizens were more likely to register to vote than native-born citizens.

2020 election turnout sets records, still lags behind U.S. participation rates

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, and voter turnout in presidential elections typically exceeds that in midterm elections. Nearly 2.3 million people in our region cast a ballot In the 2020 Presidential Election. About 72% were cast in Harris County (1.6 million), 16% in Fort Bend (357,000) and 12% in Montgomery County (271,000). 

Voter turnout rates can be measured in two ways: by the number of people who cast a ballot among those who registered to vote; and the number of people who cast a ballot among those who are of voting-age U.S. citizens. The former indicator tells us the level of participation among those who are eligible, whereas the latter tells us something about the levels of interest in the political process in a region overall.

The 2020 presidential election inspired the highest levels of voter participation in each of the three counties, as well as in Texas and the U.S., despite occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voter turnout increased almost 10 percentage points in Fort Bend between 2016 and 2020, compared to a 7.8-point increase in both Harris and Montgomery counties. This high voter turnout continues the trend that started with the 2018 midterm election, in which voter turnout rose more than 20 percentage points in all three counties compared to 2014. However, our region’s presidential and midterm turnout rates continue to lag considerably compared to those of the U.S. overall.

The region and state’s lag in voter turnout does improve when comparing the citizen voting age population turnout instead of the registered voter population turnout. For example, 71% of Fort Bend’s citizen voting age population voted in the 2020 election. Montgomery saw 68% of its voting age population cast votes in 2020 as well. These turnout rates are higher than the U.S. rate of 67%. In Harris County, 59% of those eligible to vote in the 2020 election did so. In other words, over 40% of Harris County’s eligible voters didn’t participate in the most recent election. Even in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, one in four eligible voters sat out the 2020 election. Although Houston’s voter registration rate is higher than the national average, the turnout rate still lags. 

While there are many ideas on how to improve turnout for Texas voting, including same-day voter registration and automatic registration for 18-year-olds, some political analysts believe the lack of competitive races at the higher levels of government dissuade potential voters in Texas from exercising their right to vote. Encouraging more people to run is an important aspect of the electoral system that can lead to an increase in voter participation.¹

In addition, given the racial/ethnic diversity of our region, targeted voter registration and voter turnout efforts among the Hispanic/Latino population and less educated populations are necessary to increase voter participation in the region overall. Research has shown campaign or “get out the vote” outreach efforts can promote voter turnout. Nationally, while most eligible voters reported that they received a campaign contact before the 2020 election, lower shares of Hispanic/Latino and Asian-American voters reported being contacted across various methods (e.g., mail, flyers, text message, email, phone call, home visit).

Early voting in Houston is an increasingly popular choice

One aspect of the states’ 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.²

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 in the past 12 years, more than 50% of the total votes were cast during the early-voting period. The 2020 election saw an even greater increase in early voting, with more than 88% of the votes in the three-county region being cast before Election Day, likely because of the pandemic and a desire to avoid crowds.

Access to early voting in Texas varies by method. Any registered voter may vote in person at early voting locations, but to vote early by mail, the registered voter must complete an application for the ballot by mail (previously referred to as “absentee voting”) if eligibility criteria are met. In Texas, voting in the 2020 election was most likely to happen in-person — 90% of early ballots were cast at early voting locations — rather than by mail. Fort Bend and Montgomery follow a similar pattern, with 91% and 90%, respectively. In Harris, in-person early voting was slightly lower at 88%.

It is not possible to compare early-voting methods across the U.S. as there are significant differences in election laws. For example, five states conduct all elections entirely by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah.

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 2019, 6.5% of the population in Houston (MSA) contacted a public official at least once a year. This is similar to the state rate but lower than the national rate of almost 9%. When people don’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 2016, Texas received an estimated $44 billion from the 10 largest 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, recovery initiatives for natural disasters in Houston and other critical programs. 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