XPost: alt.california, alt.politics.republicans, or.politics   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: tit-butchers@txst.edu   
      
   By: Divya Srinivasa   
      
   The act of voting is not necessarily the most memorable experience in   
   anyone’s life. Eligible voters arrive at their local church or school,   
   present their ID and submit their ballots, a process that barely lasts   
   five minutes and appears simple. In fact, voting is viewed as such an   
   ordinary event that some academics have proposed that voting has the   
   impression in society of being a “low benefit activity.”¹ This idea of   
   “low benefit” might stem from the fact that many people believe their vote   
   has no power and/or impact. So why is voting a common form of political   
   participation in society, if voting has no tangible benefits? This is   
   related to voting’s low costs. Once you are registered to vote, voting is   
   as easy as showing up to a local church with an ID. However, one variable   
   can greatly affect the cost of voting: registration. If registration   
   proves to be difficult or inaccessible, the cost of voting rises and   
   people are less likely to vote. This poses an interesting question: is   
   this cost felt more by some populations than others? My research aims to   
   discern whether variations in voter registration numbers can be partially   
   explained by race, theorizing that White populations will have higher   
   registration rates among eligible voters than Black and Hispanic   
   populations. My preliminary findings reveal that White populations do   
   generally have higher registration rates among eligible voters than Black   
   and Hispanic populations, with a few exceptions. This conclusion could   
   point to the existence of high registration barriers and costs.   
      
   An analysis of data from the United States Census Bureau suggests that   
   White populations consistently have higher CVAP numbers when compared to   
   Black and Hispanic populations.² Citizen voting age population (CVAP) is   
   defined as a count of the population that is age 18 and over and is a U.S.   
   citizen, making them eligible to register to vote. The figures below   
   highlight CVAP variations in the top 25 most populous counties in Texas   
   over an eighteen-year period (2005–2009, 2012–2016 and 2019–2023).   
      
   As seen in Figure 1, from 2005 to 2009, there is a clear trend of White   
   populations being generally larger than Black and Hispanic populations.   
   More specifically, 19 counties had White populations with higher CVAP   
   numbers than their Black and Hispanic counterparts, accounting for 76% of   
   the counties. Despite being the largest ethnic group in Texas, the   
   Hispanic population lags in terms of CVAP, pointing to possible   
   citizenship differences and potential registration challenges.³ From 2005   
   to 2009, in Texas’ largest county, Harris County, the Hispanic population   
   was about half that of the White population. By 2019–2023, as seen in   
   Figure 3, the gap shrinks but it remains persistent. The Black population   
   follows the same overall trend.   
      
   However, CVAP is only part of the equation when explaining gaps in   
   registration, although the outlook differs slightly for Black and Hispanic   
   populations. Data from the Census Bureau, pictured in Table 1, reveals   
   that of those eligible to vote, a higher percentage of White people are   
   registered to vote than Hispanic people across a 10-year span.4 For Black   
   people, the results are mixed, where Black populations have higher   
   percentages for three out of six of the data points. However, these   
   results could still point to the existence of registration barriers   
   preventing Hispanic and some Black voters from registering, despite being   
   eligible.   
      
   https://medium.com/@divya.srinivasa05/voting-and-race-a-deeper-look-   
   cc2a68576558   
      
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