Election Day is Tuesday and aside from local offices, here are the items voters will decide on in the Kansas, Texas and Colorado elections.
There are no elections in Oklahoma or Nebraska.
KANSAS
Kansans will decide whether to change how the state uses federal census numbers when it comes time to draw up legislative districts.
If voters say yes to the amendment, the option for military personnel and college students to be counted in their hometowns, rather than where they are actually living, would be taken away.
That could shift those census numbers from rural areas to military or college towns, which could have an impact on how the state’s legislative districts are determined.
The original idea was that amending the census would give rural areas better representation, but Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab says it no longer has the intended effect and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
TEXAS
There are 10 constitutional amendments on the ballot in Texas.
While this may sound like a weighty event, it’s important to remember that the Texas system allows for frequent amendments to the Constitution.
In fact, the Texas Constitution has been amended over 500 times. Compare that to the U.S. Constitution, which has only been amended 27 times.
The measure that has garnered the most attention this time around is an amendment that would further limit the legislature's ability to institute a state income tax.
Other proposed amendments on the ballot include a measure that would allow police K-9s to be transferred to “a qualified caretaker in certain circumstances" and an increase in “the maximum bond amount authorized for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.”
COLORADO
Colorado voters will decide whether to allow the state to retain excess revenue it’s currently required to refund under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).
If voters approve the measure, the state would be allowed to use those funds for education and transportation purposes.
Photo by: Erik (HASH) Hersman
