Dr. Don Inbody, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, spoke with reporter Robin Blackburn of the San Marcos Daily Record for her piece entitled “Purple Hays: A look at changing voting patterns.” Although state and county voter registration has hit record levels this year, Inbody did not think that those numbers will necessarily show up in voter turnout explaining that “there is no evidence that higher registration translates into higher turnout in general.… That’s what the science tells us; that’s what the data tells us from years of looking at this.” Although Texas is generally considered a red state, Inbody noted that Hays “is a pretty purple county.” Though Republicans usually win, especially in larger races, their margin of victory has tended to decline in recent years. He also noted that while straight-ticket tends to help Republican candidates in Hays County, “the more local you get with elections, the more pragmatic” voters tend to be. “When it comes to local elections,,” he concluded, “the issues are things like the pothole in front of my house hasn’t been fixed in a year and a half.”
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