In 2000, Austin had about 650,000 residents. That number is estimated at around 770,000 today. Of that 770,000, slightly above 75 percent are of voting age. That means Austin's voting population should be approaching 600,000.
But it's not. Only 450,000 people are registered to vote in Austin. Or 75 percent of the 75 percent of voting aged residents. That's challenge #1: How do you get closer to a 1-to-1 resident-to-registered voter ratio?
By getting more residents involved in the voting process Austin benefits in a number of ways: 1) voters understand they have power to enact change (light rail anyone?), 2) voters get more informed on what their taxes go to, and 3) voters make sure that the people getting elected are representing the whole city and not just part of it.
Which leads me to another statistically-based question. Why did only 58,000 people vote in last month's City Council and Mayoral elections??? That's less than 15 percent of the registered voters here and less than 10 percent of the voting-aged population here in Austin!
You mean to tell me that in one of America's fastest growing cities and a city that views itself as politically engaged and progressive only 27,455 people cared to vote for our new mayor Lee Leffingwell?
Brewster McCracken respectfully bowed out of the race, and a special election that would've been required since neither he nor Leffingwell won more than 50 percent of the votes, but let's be clear here: he did lose by 20 percent of the voters but only 3 percent more Austinites supported Leffingwell. Far from a landslide.
Texas may have a new Governor in 2010, but Austin won't play a big role if those lowly numbers hold up. And I tried to use the 2008 Presidential election as an excuse, maybe voter fatigue...but nope, only 99,999 ballots were reported in Travis County (pop. 998,543).
In both federal and local elections, Austin leaves much to be desired.
This is a major issue. As this city grows and builds and attracts artists, businesses, entrepreneurs, movie and music makers, students and young professionals, Austin must work doubly hard to get significantly more than 75 percent of those residents registered to vote and more than 10 percent of them showing up to vote.
It'll take a Mayoral candidate who emphasizes voter turnout over winning. It'll take City Council members who strive to get Austin's full constituency, and not just the ones that got them elected, represented.
It's quite a challenge, but Austin can't afford to lose. The consequences could be of Dallas, I mean Detroit proportions.
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