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Many Texas cities are holding local elections tomorrow. Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio will all vote for mayors, while other cities will elect school boards or city councils.

“People often pay close attention to national politics but fail to realize that local elections can have the largest impact on our lives,” Emily Farris and Hannah Vu of Texas Christian University recently wrote in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “We need well-funded school programs, stable and reliable infrastructure, affordable housing, a sense of safety and belonging, and all the things that make a strong community. Local elected officials are responsible for many of the things Fort Worth residents care about in the community that they love.”

And yet turnout in this weekend’s elections is likely to be dreadful.

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