If Texas Latinos had same turnout rate as Anglos, the state would already be ‘purple’

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http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2013/03/exclusive-analysis-if-texas-latinos-had-same-turnout-rate-as-anglos-the-state-would-already-be-purple/

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Last November, the Houston Chronicle completed a database analysis of the changing population patterns of the state and the changing voting proclivities of key demographic blocs. Our conclusion: Texas would become competitive by 2020 and a true toss-up state by 2024 if current turnout and partisan voting patterns continued.

But what if Latinos — historically a group that votes with far less frequency than the rest of the population — started voting at the same rate as everyone else, as Battleground Texas is seeking to accomplish? How much would that narrow the Republicans’ advantage in Texas?

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Now we realize that’s easier said than done, but here are the cold, clear numbers of what might have been …

Mitt Romney carried Texas by a margin of 15.8 percent over President Obama in 2012. If Latino citizens had voted at the same rate as non-Hispanic whites, Romney’s victory margin would shrink to 5.4 points. This shift would have made Texas the state with the second smallest margin of victory of any state Mitt Romney won, behind battleground North Carolina and just ahead of Georgia.

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This is one of our biggest challenges here in Texas. If we can help get out the Latino vote, we can change our state.

[LeftInTX]

1. Absolutely!!!!

Voter turn out in the Rio Grande Valley is very very low.

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2. If we can fix it,

we will be well on our way to a much better state!