By David Montgomery

AUSTIN Wearing a red-white-and-blue blouse with a sticker declaring Im so gonna vote, Kassie Phebillo sits behind a table here at the University of Texas, dispensing information about the Nov. 6 midterm election. Nearby, scores of students line up to cast their ballots on the opening day of early voting.

The display of political energy contrasts with Texas long record of lackluster voter turnout. In the last midterm election in 2014, Texas 28.9 percent turnout was less than 1 percentage point higher than dead-last Indianas, according to the United States Elections Project, which estimates voter turnout based on reports from state election offices.

A large percentage of Texans are young people and Latinos, two groups of people who are less likely to vote than the general population. Critics say a voter ID requirement, which went into effect in 2013 and has survived years of legal challenges, also has played a role. And more than two decades of Republican dominance has eroded resources for the rival Democrats and stifled competition.

People havent participated because they feel like their vote didnt make a difference, said Grace Chimene of Austin, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas.

But this years election may be different: As in other states, there have been long lines at early voting sites throughout Texas, raising the potential for an upturn in the sluggish voting patterns that typically characterize midterm elections especially here.

In Texas 30 largest counties, 2.4 million people cast ballots in the first days of early voting, surpassing the combined totals for early voting and mail-in balloting in the 2014 midterm, the United States Elections Project found.

Theres a guy named Donald Trump and either you love him, or you hate him, but he inflames passion, and when people are passionate, theyre going to vote, said Michael McDonald, who directs the project. Its just another manifestation of Trump. Hes affecting politics and now hes affecting turnout in the election.

Weve never seen this level of engagement this early in the early voting period, McDonald said. Something special is happening out there right now.

The Trump administrations crackdown on illegal immigration and the presidents frequent use of heated language to describe immigrants from Mexico and Central America appears to be energizing Latino voters in Texas and elsewhere.