Abstract
In 2005, the Texas Legislature allowed counties to move from precinct level voting to county-wide “vote centers” – locations in a county where all voters will vote, regardless of their address. Vote centers are theoretically less expensive to administer and conveneit for many voters, but less is known about the impacts on specific communities. Using Texas’ registered voters’ list from the Secretary of State’s Voting Division the project will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to calculate estimated driving distances and times from each registered voter’s residence to the voter’s vote center location. The restuls show that the displacement of traditional precinct level voting and the increase in distance between polling locations takes a greater toll on voter turnout for voters in rural counties and Latinos.