{"id":73736,"date":"2025-12-03T01:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T01:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/73736\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T01:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T01:54:07","slug":"robstowns-voting-participation-hits-familiar-low-in-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/73736\/","title":{"rendered":"Robstown’s voting participation hits familiar low in runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROBSTOWN, Texas \u2014 Robstown saw low turnout in November\u2019s election, with 1,241 voters and resulting runoffs<\/a>. KRIS 6 News asked a political expert why small cities like Robstown often experience low voter participation.<\/p>\n

Incumbent Mayor David \u201cPetey\u201d Martinez received 462 votes and candidate Mary Ann Saenz got 502. A 40-vote difference between the two candidates means residents now have to vote again to decide who will take the office.<\/p>\n

KRIS 6 Neighborhood News Reporter, Stephanie Molina spoke to voters on why they decided to vote on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Robstown’s voting participation hits familiar low in runoff<\/p>\n

“I think it is very important and I’ve always said that if you don’t vote, you don’t have a voice,” said Ninfa Trevino, a Robstown resident.<\/p>\n

The low turnout reflects a troubling pattern for the city. According to DataUSA, Robstown has approximately 10,000 residents. In 2023, about 6,000 <\/a>people were registered to vote, but only 1,222 actually cast ballots<\/a>. That year also required a runoff election, which drew 1,231 voters<\/a>. In 2021, the turnout was 1,021.<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked about the consistently low participation, residents expressed disappointment.<\/p>\n

“It saddens me because people don’t care,” Trevino said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not good,” said Ricardo Salazar, another Robstown neighbor.<\/p>\n

“I mean that is really sad. I mean people just let things go by,” said Rene Olivarez.<\/p>\n

Dr. Paul Gottemoller, professor of political science at Del Mar College, explains that timing plays a crucial role in voter turnout.<\/p>\n

“If your election is not on a general election date where a president or governor is on the ballot, you tend to have lower turnout,” Gottemoller said.<\/p>\n

He noted that compared to larger cities, Robstown has limited media coverage, which leads to lower general awareness about local elections. Runoff elections face even steeper challenges in attracting voters.<\/p>\n

Despite the low numbers, Gottemoller emphasized the importance of civic participation.<\/p>\n

“Incredibly important that you are showing up there to participate, that your preferences are heard,” he said.<\/p>\n

For residents considering whether to vote in the runoff, Gottemoller offered this advice: “The one way to make a community better is to be engaged in that community.”<\/p>\n

Early voting continues until Tuesday, December 10. Election day for the runoffs is Saturday, December 14. <\/p>\n

For more information about Robstown Runoff Election, click here.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROBSTOWN, Texas \u2014 Robstown saw low turnout in November\u2019s election, with 1,241 voters and resulting runoffs. KRIS 6…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,36710,36711,36712,36713,36714,36715,36716,725,36709,10873],"class_list":{"0":"post-73736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news","11":"tag-david-petey-martinez","12":"tag-del-mar-college-political-expert","13":"tag-dmc-dr-paul-gottemoller","14":"tag-dr-paul-gottemoller","15":"tag-low-voter-turnout","16":"tag-mary-ann-saenz","17":"tag-political-expert","18":"tag-robstown","19":"tag-robstown-2025-runoff-election","20":"tag-stephanie-molina"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}