TEXAS — Republican and Democratic ballots will look different in the Primary Election in March. Republican voters will vote on 13 additional propositions.
- The propositions are not legally binding but more of a public opinion poll.
- The propositions deal with core-Republican issues, such as property taxes, border issues and election security.
- Experts said it is a two-way flow of communication of what is important for the voters and what is important for the party.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Good evening, thanks for joining us tonight at 10. I’m Simona Barca.
The primary elections are just under a month away – but this year the Republican ballot will look a bit different than the Democrat ballot. Republican voters will vote on 13 propositions but none of them will become law – at least not this election cycle.
Every few years, the Republican and Democratic parties put a list of propositions on their primary ballots.
“It's non-binding. It's more of a public opinion poll than anything, but it's an opinion poll of republican voters that they can use to help guide what they decide to prioritize,” said Texas A&M political science professor, Dr. Kirby Goidel.
Dr. Goidel said these propositions are a way for the party to communicate their priorities to voters and hear their concerns in turn.
“It's a two-way flow of communication to allow voters to speak out on this and then to allow the party to communicate that this is one of the issues that we want to hear from you about,” Dr. Goidel said.
And the issues they want to talk about –
“They're all pretty solid Republican issues, meaning they're consistent with what you would expect the Republican party to support. It would be really surprising if any of them were defeated, or really, even if any of them are very close in terms of the outcome,” Dr. Goidel said.
The first proposition deals with eliminating property taxes – five of the 13 propositions deal with border security, and two of them deal with election security. The Texas Republican Party wants voters to tell them what’s most important to them.
“There are multiple propositions on immigration. That's already a signal, right? The party cares about immigration. But it's also the case that they may be thinking what's more important, property taxes or border issues? And so, this will help send a signal about which of those two things are more important,” Dr. Goidel said.
The primary election is coming up on March 5th.
We’ll have a link to the Republican ballot and the full propositions list on our website. Reporting in studio, I’m Simona Barca.
