Maverick County Voters Fail to Cast Ballots in Key State and Federal Posts, Creating Vast Undercount Differences in Elections
By Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2026 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
Maverick County’s latest November 3, 2026 general election results highlighted a recurring problem that deserves greater attention from local candidates, campaign workers, political parties, voters, and community–a significant undervoting problem in key State and Federal offices compared to local posts.
This undervoting problem diminishes the political power of Maverick County among state and federal government resources. Getting Maverick County voters to the polls must include helping them understand the importance of voting in state and federal races.
Several statewide contests in the November 3 general election received thousands fewer votes than the number of votes cast for candidates in local races, demonstrating a continuing persistent pattern and practice of uneven participation and undervoting seen in the previous midterm elections.
Maverick County Elections Department Director Mariana Garcia-Flores reported a total of 13,889 voters cast a ballot in the November 3 election, but its unofficial candidate totals accounted for only 12,957 votes for governor. That represents a difference of 932 voters less votes whose participation did not translate into a recorded choice in the governor contest.
The Maverick County judge race recorded 13,138 votes, exceeding the governor’s contest by 181 votes.
Larger gaps appear in other statewide races. Lieutenant governor received 11,820 votes, comptroller received 11,569, agriculture commissioner received 11,311 and railroad commissioner received 11,369. Each received substantially thousands votes fewer votes than the county judge contest or the total number of voters who voted.
This pattern and practice also occurred in the 2022 election.
In 2022, the County Judge race figures provided show Ramsey E. Cantu receiving 7,026 votes and Armando Rosales receiving 2,702, totaling 9,728. That compared with 9,583 votes for governor, 8,730 for lieutenant governor and 8,431 for comptroller. The lieutenant governor and comptroller contests received 998 and 1,297 fewer votes, respectively, than the county judge total.
These repeated differences raise serious questions about how much preparation and education Maverick County voters receive before entering the voting booth.
During more than 15 years of local election coverage, this reporter and publication, Eagle Pass Business Journal, has observed campaign efforts frequently centered on individual local candidates, with little comparable attention given to explaining state and federal races.
Typically, campaign workers and candidate sympathizers in Maverick County have directed voters attention toward familiar local candidate names and races only without highlighting state and federal races. Campaign handouts during election season using sample ballots sometimes reflect only their preferred local candidates marked, while state and federal contests remained blank or unmarked.
For Maverick County residents and voters relying on these campaign sample ballot marked-handouts, the guidance can begin and end with finding the local candidate being promoted,
A local election worker told this reporter that many voters looking for a particular race or races will only vote in these contests to the exclusion of other state and federal races. Once they recognize the local candidate and race in the ballot, they vote for only that particular candidate or race, totally disregarding the state and federal races.
This account illustrates a persistent pattern and practice extending beyond any individual election. Residents can arrive knowing whom they support for county office while remaining unfamiliar with the candidates seeking state and federal positions or the responsibilities those offices carry.
The question applies to both parties. When local Democratic and Republican organizations ask residents to support their candidates, how much effort goes into explaining the full ballot?
Local candidates and campaign organizations have repeated opportunities to explain state and federal races to voters, yet outreach observed over years of election coverage has often stopped at promoting local names. Residents are asked to support a county candidate without receiving comparable information about who represents them in Austin or Washington, what those officials do or how their decisions affect Maverick County.
Campaign work should include helping residents understand and learn the entire ballot and the connection between elected offices and their everyday needs.
Those connections continue long after campaign signs come down.
The governor signs or vetoes legislation, recommends a state budget and makes appointments. The lieutenant governor presides over the Texas Senate and appoints its committees, helping shape the legislative process through which spending proposals and other measures advance.
The comptroller estimates the revenue available for lawmakers to appropriate and manages major state financial responsibilities. Those estimates help establish how much money legislators have available when developing the state budget.
The General Land Office administers disaster recovery and mitigation funding. The agriculture department oversees school nutrition programs and supports rural development. The Railroad Commission regulates oil and natural gas activities, pipelines and surface mining.
Understanding these responsibilities helps Maverick County residents and voters recognize why a less familiar race can still carry significant consequences for their families, businesses and local government.
A community seeking attention to its needs benefits from residents who understand which officials make decisions and who can hold them accountable. Leaving those choices to voters elsewhere reduces the local electorate’s contribution to selecting state leadership. Maverick County voters significant undervoting pattern and practice dilutes the community’s influence and powers when it comes to receiving state and federal benefits and resources. State and federal candidates do notice how many people voted in these contests and for them.
Responsibility for improving voter education should be shared. Election administrators provide procedural information and ballot instructions. Political parties, candidates and campaign organizations should explain the offices they are asking voters to help fill. News organizations, schools and civic groups can help residents understand how government works.
State and federal candidates also must make the effort to reach Maverick County, explain their proposals and address local concerns.
Local campaigns already speak with residents through neighborhood visits, telephone calls, events and sample ballot distribution. Those conversations provide opportunities to discuss the broader ballot and encourage voters to research every office.
Bilingual information explaining candidates, responsibilities and the relationship between different levels of government could help residents enter the polls better prepared.
Voters also have a role. Reviewing a sample ballot, learning who represents the community and asking questions before an election can help turn participation into informed decisions throughout the ballot.
Maverick County needs leadership and resources to address its challenges. Its residents deserve to understand who makes those decisions and to have a voice in choosing them.
Doing better requires a community effort that continues beyond promoting a familiar name. For our own good, voter education must receive the same energy as getting people to the polls.
