Factors Influencing Frequent Amendments to the Texas Constitution and Their Electoral Legitimacy
Overview
This paper examines why the Texas Constitution requires frequent amendments compared to other state constitutions and analyzes voter turnout patterns in constitutional amendment elections versus presidential elections. The author argues that low voter engagement in amendment elections raises questions about the legitimacy of passed or rejected amendments.
What this essay covers
- Reasons for frequent Texas Constitution amendments: limited federal power control, outdated provisions, and part-time legislature structure
- Comparative voter turnout analysis: lower participation in amendment votes (30-40%) versus presidential elections (50-60%)
- Relationship between turnout levels and amendment legitimacy: higher participation correlates with greater democratic legitimacy
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Texas Government
Why is the Texas Constitution so frequently amended?
The constitution of Texas has undergone many more amendments than any constitution within the same region. In the US constitution, the states are subordinate to the federal government. It is considered that the state government is powerful and highly centralized, but the way the Texas constitution is outlines limit some control of power by the federal government over the state government. The framers of the Texas constitution implemented the control of power, thus limiting the government's ambiguity to extend its powers. Therefore, the Texas constitution needs frequent amendments in addressing various situations and matters not catered for in the original constitution. According to Graber et al. (2), the Texas Constitution has been amended more than that of the original American constitution in the essence of simplifying outdated provisions and the public policies that were written in the frontier era. Furthermore, Texas has a part-timer legislature, limiting some structural power in controlling the amendment policy; thus, amendments are usually done without limitations (Champagne et al. 15).
How does the turnout for elections dealing with constitutional amendments compare to turnout for presidential elections? (Refer to “Who are Texans?” in Chapter 2).
The voters' turnouts for the amendments of the constitutions are always lower than the turnout for a presidential election. According to research, the presidential election always ranges between 50-60% of the turnouts while the amendment's voting is only about 30-40%. Moreover, further research done in 2011 indicates that there are 12.