Houston-area universities tally low voter turnout, signaling concerns over youth vote

University polling locations in Harris County lagged in early voting turnout, possibly signaling continued struggles engaging young voters. Just under 3 percent of the 692,478 people who voted early and in-person cast their ballots at one of four local university voting locations, according to election data. The figures do not show the whole picture – they aren’t broken down by age, and registered voters aren’t restricted by location in Harris County – but political analysts say that the low returns reflect how access and motivation remains an issue for many young Texans. “Having early voting locations on campuses … it doesn’t mean that all those barriers suddenly go away,” said Peter de Guzman, associate researcher at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

With an average of 6,994 people voting at each of Harris County’s 99 early voting locations, Texas Southern University, University of Houston and University of Houston-Downtown fell below the mark. Only University of Houston-Clear Lake surpassed it. Voter turnout is typically low among young voters, although ballot counters have recorded gains in the past few years. About 25 percent of people aged 18 to 29 voted in Texas in the 2018 midterms, triple the turnout from the previous midterms. That’s still less in comparison to the 53 percent of registered Texans who voted overall in 2018, according to the youth civic engagement research group at Tufts University. Michael O. Adams, professor of political science and public administration at Texas Southern University, warned not to read too closely into what the early voting numbers mean for candidates such as Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who will have to lean heavily on young people to become governor.