Bill to abolish “one-punch” voting approved in Texas House

[Draggingtree]

Texas Tribune

Bill to abolish “one-punch” voting approved in Texas House

House Bill 25, approved 85-59, could drastically change Texas politics considering straight-ticket ballots accounted for almost 64 percent of total votes cast in the state’s 10 largest counties in 2016.  

BY ALEX SAMUELS MAY 5, 2017 11 HOURS AGO

The Texas House late Friday night gave preliminary approval to a bill that would eliminate "one-punch" voting, forcing voters to make an individual decision on every ballot item, starting with the 2020 election.

House Bill 25, approved 85-59, could drastically change Texas politics considering straight-ticket ballots accounted for almost 64 percent of total votes cast in the state’s 10 largest counties in 2016. Forty-one states don’t allow straight-ticket voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

State Rep. Ron Simmons, R-Carrollton, one of the authors of HB 25, said he filed the measure to foster more educated voters since they’d have to go down the ballot and make a decision on every race.    

  If voters don’t want to do one-punch voting, guess what? They don’t have to. They have a choice.