Letter to the Texas Senate and House Leadership

Consolidating Elections to Increase Turnout and Save Taxpayer Dollars

Uniform election dates produce four main benefits: 1) higher voter turnout, 2) election administration cost savings, 3) decreased likelihood of special interests dominating a low-turnout election, and 4) reduced election worker burnout. Key points: Seven states require municipal elections to be consolidated with even-year federal election dates. This increases turnout and saves $29.5-129 million for...

Texas Needs To Fix Its Energy Strategy

Texas is America’s manufacturing and energy export powerhouse. If the Trump administration envisions a true American energy renaissance on the horizon, Texas must lead. But before Texas can lead, it must get its own grid in order. Decades of federal and state subsidies—the latter now thankfully dead—have powered an overinvestment in periodic wind and solar...

Don’t Fence Me In: Lianne’s Story

Family, then finances—and opportunity. Those are what brought Lianne Halpern back to tiny Shamrock, a small, dusty stop on the famous Route 66 in the Texas panhandle. Like generations of Americans before, Lianne and her family had traveled west along that route in search of the golden promises of California. Lianne’s father worked in the...