Texas loves to brag about our bigness, but then why are we content with our minuscule election turnout?

The Lone Star State must change our dismal history as a low voter turnout state, starting with the March primary elections. The best way that can happen is by boosting turnout among Texas Hispanics.

The Lone Star State had the third-lowest turnout in the 2016 presidential election, which is a typical performance. Exit polls that year showed that Hispanics made up only about 24 percent of Texas voters, even though they constituted 34 percent of the eligible voting age population that year.

In the 2010 and 2014 mid-term elections, only 17 percent of Texas voters were Hispanic, according to exit polls.

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The low Hispanic turnout is no accident, with much of the fault lying with the Republican-controlled Legislature in Texas. Overly restrictive voter identification laws and gerrymandering of congressional and legislative districts suppress voter turnout.

Over the long term, the one sure way to get Texas off the bottom of the voter turnout list will be to undo those legislative efforts. But that doesn't mean Texans can't take steps in the coming weeks and months to boost turnout this year, particularly among Hispanics.

Although Hispanics have tended to support Democrats in recent years, this doesn't have to be a partisan issue. Gov. Greg Abbott and former governor George W. Bush, both Republicans, campaigned aggressively for Hispanic votes, and the GOP will have to find a way to increase its appeal among that group if it is to maintain its dominance in Texas.

Daniel Garza, president of the conservative Libre Initiative, said the record low unemployment among Hispanics - 4.7 percent in November - gives Republicans a strong message to take to Hispanic voters.

"When policymakers commit to an agenda that limits taxes and curbs unnecessary government regulation, it makes it easier for workers and entrepreneurs to succeed." Garza said. "The Hispanic community is beginning to see the benefits of an improving economy."

Cristóbal J. Alex, a Texan who heads the progressive Latino Victory Project, said 27 percent of the Hispanic voters in Texas in 2016 cast ballots for the first time, many spurred on by Donald Trump's acrimonious rhetoric.

"Democrats can plant the seeds for a blue Texas by targeting first-time Latino voters and running candidates that look like them and share their values." Alex said. "This will require the shared commitment and support of the national and state Democratic parties, tried and true Texas organizations, and national allies like us."

National Republican and Democratic groups aren't expected to invest much in turnout efforts in Texas this year because they'll be focusing on other states, which means grassroots groups and individual campaigns will have to shoulder that burden. One key is for the parties to nominate more Hispanics for offices up and down the ballot, and for candidates to understand issues important to the Texas Hispanics community.

The first step in getting more Hispanics to vote in Texas is to ask them for their vote, over and over again. Outreach efforts have been feeble in Texas, in part because Democrats take the Hispanic vote for granted, and many Republican candidates show little to no interest in reaching them.

Civic groups and candidates can make a big difference through labor-intensive efforts to reach out to Hispanics and make the case for how voting can impact their day-to-day lives, and the lives of their children and grandchildren.

One effort that has shown promise is reaching out to high school students to register as soon as they turn 18, because almost half of all Texas high school students are Hispanic. Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos last year began an aggressive effort to work with high school principals to fulfill their legal role as deputy voter registrars.

The Texas political system will be healthier when more of its citizens are engaged in the political process. That can't happen until Hispanic turnout improves dramatically. Such a change will take years, but the March primary is a good time to start.