HOUSTON, Texas - Some are retired, some are students. Some are paid, others volunteer. Yet they all share a single goal. For weeks, a wide range of nonpartisan organizations across Texas have been training teams to knock on doors, make phone calls and drive people to the polls. Although they do not tell anyone how to vote, they are passionate about their message: Participating in elections is worth the effort.

Canvassers with the Houston branch of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) Education Fund - Rosa Garcia, Antonio Coronado and Sylvia Gonzales - all cite different reasons for getting involved.

[Garcia:] "The reason I started was because I needed a job, and now I see that I can make a difference." [Coronado:] "My main concern is to be part of the future, and be a better citizen for this country." [Gonzales:] "I'm a single mother, and I feel I'm doing something good for my kids."

With hundreds working in the field statewide, TOP targets infrequent voters - particularly those in Latino communities. Latinos now comprise 26 percent of the state's nearly 13 million registered voters. However, at least in recent elections, the Latino turnout rate has been lower than that of other groups.

Recent culinary-school graduate Ashley Estevan volunteers in the impoverished Rio Grande Valley. She says about half her time is spent motivating people who are struggling and have lost faith in politics.

"They are like, 'No - I've been let down so much by our elected officials over the last few years that I just don't feel like if I vote it'll make a difference.'"

She says she has persuaded many to vote by shifting attention from national politics to local issues. That is a familiar refrain among canvassers throughout Texas, where the outcome of the presidential race is already a near certainty.

Danny Cendejas has been knocking on Dallas doors since August. Elected officials, he tells people, tend to steer resources toward communities where people are politically involved. He finds this argument to be more effective than any other when it comes to persuading an infrequent voter to stick with the process.

"We tell that voter, 'Hey, if you cast your ballot, and you help get neighbors of yours to cast their ballots, too, elected officials know that these people are committed to making their communities better, so they have to pay attention.'"

Phone banks and door-to-door efforts are labor-intensive - and a turnoff to some on the receiving end. However, Estevan says, one-on-one conversations are often the only way to energize apathetic voters. Her greatest satisfaction comes from convincing people that they can actually make a difference.

"I push it every day, even if I'm not volunteering. I really do hope that people will start valuing themselves a little more, to get themselves out to the polls and tell themselves, 'My vote matters.'"

In 2010, the turn-out rate in Texas was lower than in any other state. Because partisan political campaigns tend to target likely voters, the task of motivating the disillusioned falls mainly to nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts.




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North Dakota's June 11 primary is inching closer and those running for legislative seats are trying to win over voters, including Native American candidates who are part of a movement energized by newly drawn political boundaries.

The organization North Dakota Native Vote said there are seven candidates with Indigenous roots seeking spots in the Legislature. Most are running in District 9, which was recently updated to reflect representation needs for two Native American tribes.

Natasha Gourd, a board member of North Dakota Native Vote, described them as a good mixture of candidates coming from both reservations in the area, with some running as Democrats and others as Republicans.

"We've seen an upturn in participation and just getting leadership development through Native candidates," Gourd observed.

The election wave comes after the state saw 10 Native candidates in legislative races two years ago. For her group, Gourd acknowledged the boost can be tricky because they cannot endorse everyone running. But she noted having greater assurances the areas will be represented by people from their community -- no matter if they have a different stance on certain issues -- is still a positive.

Gourd added trying to build on the momentum is also important for off-reservation districts.

"What they do at the state level, regardless of Native American people in North Dakota (being part of) federally recognized tribes, it does affect us," Gourd pointed out. "Most Natives in North Dakota do live off the reservation, so it does affect our populations."

Gourd stressed they need more Native voices at the state level speaking out about priorities within education, the housing crisis, energy issues and health care. She hopes the positive trends they're seeing inspire more civic participation among other racial and ethnic groups trying to get a seat at the policy table in North Dakota.

A new poll finds a near 20-year low in the number of voters who say they have a high interest in the 2024 election, with a majority saying they hold negative views of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. A group of Arizona elections officials and experts recently gathered to discuss the growing discontent with the state's current electoral landscape.

Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder, said that if politicians are what he calls "single-minded seekers of re-election," he contends the state should change the political incentive structure.

"And if those incentives will change, then maybe we will be talking about more things in the Arizona Voter's Agenda and less things that are currently right now incentivized by what I still believe to be a minority, but a very passionate, very loud, and a minority that is definitely committed to acting on those issues," he said.

Richer added it is important to remember that despite Independent and unaffiliated voters being able to participate in the July 30th statewide primary, they were excluded from the state's March Presidential Preference Election, and that has caught the eye of some in the state. The bipartisan group Make Elections Fair Arizona is pushing for open primaries, but proponents of closed primaries believe they're crucial to maintaining the integrity of party ideals.

Amanda Burke, executive vice president with the non-partisan, nonprofit organization Center for the Future of Arizona, said more than half of unaffiliated voters do not feel they have leaders or candidates running who speak to the issues and causes they care about. She contends that then translates to who decides to show up at the ballot box and vote, and encourages Arizonans to imagine a different primary system if they want different outcomes.

"Otherwise we are going to continue to have some more outcomes in terms of people who are incentivized to speak to a small percentage of their base on either side who are really not representative of the larger views," she explained.

The Grand Canyon State allows voter-initiated amendments to the state constitution, but the Arizona Require Partisan Primary Elections Amendment would add the state's current primary practice to the state constitution, prohibiting future changes without another constitutional amendment. Make Elections Fair Arizona is still collecting signatures to get its measure on the November ballot.


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Wisconsin women have made progress in closing gaps when it comes to being elected to public office.

But some voices worry the movement might slow down as candidates see increasing levels of threats and harassment.

The Brennan Center for Justice recently issued findings that detail the threatening behavior those in the political arena are experiencing now.

Women were three to four times as likely as men to experience abuse targeting their gender.

Erin Vilardi, CEO and founder of the advocacy and assistance group Vote Run Lead, said this creates more unfairness in areas such as resource planning for a campaign.

"We see women candidates and incumbents right now having to pay for security," said Vilardi, "having to put in their budgets, in their campaign funds, in their line-items for their campaigns a security detail."

And Vilardi said because of the worsening climate, the threats are extending to almost all other candidates, including conservative white men.

She and other researchers called on party leaders to strongly condemn political violence. They also recommend that each state implement stronger protection for officeholders.

Vilardi said it's not just women candidates and incumbents having to deal with this behavior. Women working as top aides and political journalists are subject to more hateful rhetoric these days.

"This is something that permeates women in politics," said Vilardi, "not just for the folks that are stepping up to lead but for the ecosystem of women around them."

And if more women decide not to run or seek re-election as a result, Vilardi said this means there will be fewer opportunities for gender equality in leadership positions in state legislatures and Congress.

She urged constituents to send messages of support to women officeholders as they weigh these challenges and their political futures.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.



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