I've been in Texas for 11 years, and I gave up on voting. City Council? Whenever we vote progressive candidates in and they do something progressive, Abbott calls the Legislature into special session to make those laws illegal at the state level.

A good example is when the City of Austin implemented a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, which given the production of said bags set the O&G lobby into overdrive.

County? Well, my vote doesn't really count there, as Travis is overall aligned with my political views. State? Nah, gerrymandering split the city into I think now five districts at the federal level of unusual shape to dilute Austinites' voices by including sparse areas 10s of miles away. Federal? We just redistricted. Senate could be interesting

There's a reason I chose journalism. Voting harder clearly wasn't going to help even in college.