At long last, Election Day has arrived, and Texans can be confident in this much, at least: by the end of the day we should, God willing, know who the next president will be. Some voters are still hoping for a civic Hail Mary—courtesy of faithless electors, perhaps, or the voters of Utah—but realistically, it will be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Either way, roughly half of Americans will be unhappy with the results and either way, millions of Americans will believe that the presidential election was “rigged”—metaphorically, literally, or both. All of us, then, should be worried. We are a deeply divided nation. The things that divide us will also interfere with efforts to heal the wounds. The recriminations and revisionism have already begun.
As it stands, in any case, Clinton remains favored to win. And though it’s devilishly difficult to make predictions about what will happen today in Texas, I continue to think that Clinton has, or had, a chance of winning here. It’s true that four years ago, Mitt Romney won Texas by a 16-point margin. Reading the tea leaves, I think Trump would be lucky to do so by six. Recent polling has consistently found Texas, the most important red state in the country, looking strangely purple this year. Registration has soared to a record high. Turnout has too, and we’ll know soon enough what impact that will have. In the meantime, I encourage readers to weigh in with their predictions, and thoughts, in the comments. And I’d encourage all Texans—if you haven’t already done so—to vote for the candidate of your choosing. The decision is ours to make. The secretary of state’s office will tell you where, and how, to weigh in.
