It’s that time of year again. Voting season is here! On November 6, the polls for the general election will open across the nation. Eligible registered voters will have the opportunity to express their voices and cast their vote for political candidates whom will represent their Federal government.

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These elected officials will not only represent local communities, but will have the responsibility to make decisions on issues that have an effect on the lives of their constituents.

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With over 50 positions needing to be filled, voters have the opportunity to elect candidates for government positions such as, the Texas state representative, Texas governor, as well as the Nacogdoches county judge.

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Each candidate has set their main proprieties that they will focus on once elected to showcase what they hope to achieve to benefit the community. For example, the current governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, is running to be re-elected governor in the November 6 election. If elected, Abbott plans to work to improve current issues on property tax reform, regulation of human trafficking, border security, as well as work to increase teacher salary.

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Dale Morton, the Nacogdoches County Republican Party Chairman, works to increase political awareness and hopes to increase the percent of voter turnout for this upcoming election. “It’s really important that every voter votes because every vote does make a difference.” Morton said.

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According to Texas’s Secretary of State, in the primary election of March 2018, there were about 15 million registered voters within the state of Texas. However, only about 10 percent of those voters participated in the election. The question that remains is why the voter turnout in Texas is relatively low for local elections and what actions must be made in order to improve the rate of voter turnout.

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“People tend to vote when they are happy with what’s going on and they tend to not consider it as urgent or important when they have issues that have made it big in the media because those issues have already been addressed,” Morton said. “However, I think people tend to vote when they’re concerned about the direction that things are going.”

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Although there are various potential reasons that registered voters decide not to participate in the election process, Morton claims that the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election could play a role on the number of voter turnout.

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“We have an issue on the ballot this November that reflects how people have been stirred up by anger from the election two years later, so this can reflect on the number of voter turnout,” Morton said. “I don’t think that we have an election that is ‘unimportant’, if it were unimportant the we wouldn’t spend the time or money to have local elections.”

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In order to increase the percent of voter turnout, it is highly advised that citizens within their local communities are aware of the important local elections have on the community and what can result by participating in these elections.

 

“The local issues affect people more in their community and in their day-to-day lives,” Morton said. “They will see how those votes affect them more quickly than they will generally in the national-level election. Regardless of the issue, local ones have a great affect on ourselves, on our children, and on our grandchildren.”

Early voting will be held at the Nacogdoches Courthouse Annex on October 22nd, and the General Election will open November 6, where registered voters can cast their vote on what issues matter to them and let their voices be heard.

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For more information, visit the following sources to learn more about how to become more involved with the 2018 General Election.

 

http://www.co.nacogdoches.tx.us/ElectionInformation/CurrentElectionInformation.asp

 

http://www.co.nacogdoches.tx.us/departments/elections.asp https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/2018-important-election-dates.shtml