The Future of Texas is Decided by Who Shows Up

Picture this: it’s November, election night. The TV flickers in the living room. Someone mutters, “There they go again, ruining the country.” The tacos are still warm, the cafecito is cooling, and everyone shakes their heads like it’s a bad novela we’ve seen too many times. But here’s the ugly truth, tío: a lot of this mess isn’t only the fault of corrupt politicians or greedy billionaires. It belongs to the millions of Americans—millions of Texans—who simply did not vote.

The scale of the silence is heavier than the scale on your bathroom floor, checking if you lost those 5 lbs to fit in that dress you’ll only wear once. Take a look. In the 2024 presidential election, 36% of eligible Americans stayed home. That’s nearly 90 million people—90 million voices swallowed in silence. And Texas? We did even worse. Barely half of registered voters showed up. Half! Which means a fraction of Texans got to decide the future for all 30 million of us.

So when folks say the government is “going to hell,” let’s be real: it’s going there partly because too many of us didn’t even bother to grab the steering wheel or ask for a ride.

Now let’s zoom in to look at the numbers. Here in Starr County, deep in the Valley, politics used to feel like tradition. For over a century, Starr voted blue. It was part of our identity, part of our history. Then came 2024, when Donald Trump took 57.7% of the vote here, while Kamala Harris pulled in only 41.8%. Yes, some neighbors switched sides. But the bigger story is the ones who didn’t vote at all. Votes that could have kept the race close—or flipped it back—were missing. Silence broke a 100-year streak. And silence is why Starr County now carries the headline: “Republican for the first time since 1896.” That didn’t happen because the community suddenly changed overnight. It happened because too many people stayed home.

The cost of staying home in Texas is as high as the cost of groceries. Do you think high-powered politicians struggle to pay for their groceries? Yeah, well, they don’t.

Not voting isn’t neutral. It’s not just a shrug—it has real, painful consequences. It’s making the decision to let someone else decide for you. And in Texas, the cost of that silence hits hard.

Healthcare: Texas is still one of the few states refusing to expand Medicaid. That means over a million Texans remain uninsured, and Starr County is one of the hardest hit—nearly 29% of our neighbors here have no health insurance. Our only public hospital, Starr County Memorial, is stretched thin because folks delay care until it’s an emergency. If more of us voted, leaders wouldn’t ignore us so easily.

Schools: In Starr County, a staggering 92.7% of students are considered economically disadvantaged. Yet instead of pouring resources into our classrooms, Austin politicians push voucher schemes to send tax dollars to private schools. Who loses? Our kids in Rio, Roma, La Grulla. Kids who deserve more than crowded classrooms and underpaid teachers.

Power & Infrastructure: Remember the 2021 freeze when people died in their homes because the Texas grid failed? State leaders promised fixes. Instead, they fixed profits for energy companies. If voters had punished them at the ballot box, they wouldn’t have dared keep ignoring us.

When we don’t vote, we don’t just skip folding laundry or washing the car. We hand the mic to those who don’t live our lives, don’t share our struggles, and don’t care if our community gets left behind.

This silence is dangerous because the people in power depend on your silence. In the last 24 hours, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed lawsuits against six states for failing to provide statewide voter registration lists. The DOJ also filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to weaken a key provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Why? To keep Black and Brown voters silent before the sleeping giant wakes up.

Some will continue to say, “I don’t like either candidate, so I won’t pick.” But neutrality doesn’t exist in politics. If you don’t vote, you’re saying: “Vecino, you decide for me.” And too often, that vecino is voting for policies that hurt your family—that have long-lasting consequences.

Here’s what happens when people don’t vote: extremes win when low turnout gives the loudest, most radical voices all the power. Communities get ignored because politicians spend their time serving the people who show up. If Latinos stay home, we get crumbs, te guste o no te guste. Cynicism feeds itself when people think “my vote doesn’t matter,” so they don’t vote. Then nothing changes, proving their own point. It’s a vicious circle.

Imagine if Starr County showed up—turnout jumps to 70%. Hidalgo, Cameron, Webb all follow suit. Imagine the shockwaves in Austin and Washington if South Texas turned out in force. Medicaid expansion would be on the table. Schools would get real funding—no political games. Infrastructure—from bridges to the power grid—would stop being an afterthought. Candidates would stop flying over us on their way to Houston and Dallas. They’d stop here, knock on our doors, listen to our concerns—because they’d need us. We already have the numbers. The Latino community in Texas is young, growing, and powerful. But power unused is power lost. It’s sad if you think about it.

Look, I understand voting isn’t easy for most of us. Buying groceries, trying to make the payment on time, are much more urgent. Then you get there, and the lines are long. The polling sites are too far. Work schedules clash. And sometimes the candidates feel like basura. But here’s the truth: the ballot is the one tool we still have. Without it, we’re invisible. Every skipped election means handing over decisions about health care, schools, jobs, and even the lights in your house to people who don’t know or don’t care about your life. Truth is, they don’t care about your life—and the only way we make them care is by voting, by showing up to let them know we will not be silenced or invisible.

Starr County’s 2024 flip wasn’t destiny. It was a warning. If we keep staying home, others will keep writing our story for us. So next time there’s an election—local, state, national—don’t sit it out. Bring your comadre, your cousin, your neighbor. Make it part of la familia, part of the Sunday routine. Because silence has a price, and Texas has been making us pay it for too long.

If we want change, if we want a government that finally works for us, then voting is not optional. It’s survival. It’s dignity. It’s the future of Starr County. It’s the future of the country. Now, step up mi gente.

@Janie

@alvarezjanie

Copyright © 2025 Janie Alvarez for FRONTeras.