The presidential primaries tend to consume all the media attention, but it's worth reminding ourselves that Democratic and Republican candidates for the Texas House and Senate are very important to the fate of community and technical college education.
As noted here before, due to precise districting (traditionally known as gerrymandering), as well as other factors, the party nominees picked in the primary will likely face little opposition in November. Hence the primary is the "real" election in many situations. Here's a link to show how lopsided partisan support can be in each district, as reported by the Texas Tribune. (Scroll down to the Texas Senate and House voting patterns.)
Early voting has begun for the March 1 primary. Here is an official schedule of important dates. Here is general voting information.
In urging students to vote, it's worth noting that Texas requires a photo ID, and the school's student identification won't do.
Reportedly, in the 2014 general election, about 4.7 million Texans voted (about 25% of eligible voters). However, fewer than 2 million voters participated in either a Republican or Democrat primary (less than 10% of eligible voters). Therefore, in a sense, each primary vote carries a much higher probability of making a difference than in November contests.
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