By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Analyze the state and local election process in Texas

Elections offer American voters the opportunity to participate in their government with little investment of time or personal effort. Yet voters should make decisions carefully. The electoral system allows them the chance to pick party nominees as well as office-holders, although not every citizen will participate in every step.

An election is the process by which we select our government officials and determine matters of policy. Campaigns are the efforts of candidates to secure positions in the government or the efforts to get policy matters adopted.

Elections are very important because the outcomes of government actions are almost always the result of the people who hold elected office and elections determine which policies we will have to live by. Campaigns are important because they ultimately determine who gets elected whether that person is the best person for the job or not.

As you can imagine, Texas has had some interesting elections and campaigns in the past and will continue to have them in the future.

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Elections and Campaigns in Texas: Introduction. Authored by: John Osterman. License: CC BY: Attribution