Texas and the Federal Electoral Processes
General elections in Texas are held after four years to select governors, state representatives, senators, and other official seats of the public. The other types of elections held in the state are runoff elections that decide on a winner when there is a tie, special elections that are carried out to fill a vacant seat, and primary elections, which is held within parties and determine the final candidates of the general elections. Voters are registered a month before the actual Election day (Tokaji, 2008). There are however some allowances for late registration. The process is also done traditionally-with the physical presence of the voters. The methods of voting used are balloting and through emails. The voters are allowed to vote before the scheduled voting day. Late voting is also accepted only if the individuals present a reason for their absenteeism.
Qualifications for voter registration include; US citizenship, and 17 years and 10 months of age (Tokaji, 2008). The voters must also be living in the counties in which they were registered. During the elections, they are required to present pieces of evidence to ascertain their identity. This could be their National Identification cards, driving license, or a military card. For the candidantial position, the applicants must have US citizenship and be at least eighteen years of age. The age requirements, however, vary from one seat to another. The senator, for example, is required to be at least 30 years, while the state representative, 25 years.
According to the laws in Texas, candidates for the electoral seats are first selected by the party primaries. In the primaries, individual parties hold inside elections to pick one candidate that will represent them in the general elections. Each contestant from each party then goes head-on in the general elections where the voter’s preferred candidate is declared the winner of the position. After four years, other elections are held to find another official.
Federal elections are mainly involved with presidential elections, who must be 35 years and above and must have resided in the country for at least 14 years. While the state elections elect the senator, governor, and other electoral seats through a popular vote, the president and his deputy are elected through the electoral vote. The Electoral College makes the overall decision on who should be declared the winner. Each state selects a member to be a part of the Electoral College. The number which a state contributes also depends on the number of congressional members the state has. They hold a separate election to decide on the winner of the presidential elections. The College has 538 members and the winner is the one who gathers more than 270 votes (Miller, 2012).
The major inconsistency in the Texas and federal elections consequently lies in how the winners are determined. The people play a major role in determining the results of the state elections but a lesser part in choosing the president. This, therefore, affects the democracy allowed in the land in that, the government of the citizens, chosen by them and which works for them, as reinforces by Abraham Lincoln is not followed (Edwards, 2019). People have little say in the leader they want. The citizens consequently have minimal say in the public policies chosen by the government put in place. Moreover, the votes of the losing candidate are all canceled leaving the unpopular winner the holder of the seat.
Similarly, considering the fact the members of the Electoral College are chosen with regards to the number of members a state has in Congress. Electoral campaigns are mainly focused on the popular states. The leaders are more focused on the needs of these bigger and more competitive states which leaves the small ones neglected. Federal elections, therefore, do not cater to the democracy of the citizens, especially the ones living in smaller states.