Women lead El Paso’s voting surge

El Paso’s explosive turnout surge in this year’s election is being driven by women, particularly younger women, an analysis of voting data shows.

The number of women casting ballots through Tuesday’s ninth day of early voting is almost 16,000 more than the total number of women votes in the last midterm election, including early voting and Election Day that year. Three days of early voting plus Election Day still lie ahead this year, so it appears likely El Paso women may at least double their 2014 vote total.

El Paso men already surpassed their 2014 vote total by 8,000 votes so far. Women have made up 55 percent of El Paso voters so far this year, even though they make up only 52 percent of registered voters. El Paso women cast 52 percent of ballots in 2014.

Women under age 30 have shown the greatest growth rate. That group cast about 3,400 votes in 2014, but has already cast almost 7,400 votes this year through Tuesday.

Ilse Adame, 19, plans to add to that number on Friday. She’s a student at the University of San Diego, but is flying back to El Paso to vote because she missed the deadline to apply for an absentee mail ballot. Adame didn’t want to miss her first chance to vote in a national election.

“I really think my generation is motivated this year. It really means a lot for me to vote this year. I didn’t get to vote in 2016 because I was only 17, and most of my friends were 18 and vote,” Adame said. “This is a great opportunity to make our voices heard.”

UTEP students in the Borderzine class interviewed voters last week when an early voting station was set up on campus. Most of the voters at UTEP were women.

“I think it’s important to vote because there are issues that apply to numerous groups, so our vote will make a difference for them and speak up for them and make our country better,” UTEP student Ashley Soto, 22, said in a Borderzine interview.

Trianna Bergstrand, 20, said: “I was inspired to vote because I saw how people not voting can negatively affect the outcome.”

The presence of El Pasoan Beto O’Rourke on the ballot as the Democrats’ Senate nominee is a big factor in the huge turnout growth in El Paso. “The reason I wanted to come out to vote today was to get Beto in office. He’s very humble and it’s just a very big change for us,” Sarah Fernandez, 20, told a Borderzine reporter.

Women age 30-44 also have shown strong growth, casting almost 11,000 votes through Tuesday compared to just over 6,800 in all of 2014.

Adrian Babst, 30, said she has voted in every election since becoming eligible in 2008, but feels increasingly motivated this year.

“My spouse came out as transgender a few years ago, and with the current climate and most recent headlines coming out of the White House, you can understand my nervousness,” she said in an interview with ABC-7. “I cast my vote this year with transgender rights and protections as the number one issue on my mind. I hope to see a massive turnover of lawmakers in this country, specifically in Texas. I love this state and I love living in El Paso, but my family lives in a state of constant anxiety and it’s making it increasingly difficult to not just pack up and leave the state and/or the country.”

Sixty percent of El Paso women voters so far didn’t vote in the last midterm election in 2014, at least not in El Paso. Fifteen percent didn’t vote in El Paso in the 2016 presidential election. That suggests that many women are motivated to vote by candidates and issues that are specific to this year’s election.

National and statewide polls this year show a huge gender gap, with women far more likely than men to support Democrats and men far more likely than women to support Republicans.

Robert Moore, ABC-7’s exclusive 2018 election analyst, is an El Paso journalist who has covered local and state politics since 1986.