AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF News) – Early voting in the November 2 election begins Monday, October 18th, and Texas voters will decide whether to add eight amendments to the state’s constitution.
League of Women Voters Texas CEO Grace Chimene said the proposals represent a myriad of important issues that impact most residents.
“Who pays property taxes? There’s an amendment that impacts them. Some of these are about money or bonds for the county to pay for roads. People who have loved ones in nursing home or in care facilities then they really need to pay attention to Prop 6,” she said.
One of the amendments the League is paying close attention to is Proposition 4 which would change the eligibility requirements for Supreme Court justices, criminal appeals judges, justice of a court of appeals and district judges in Texas.
Chimene said if voted in, the change would have a lasting impact on who can run for those seats.
“Then it will be harder for younger people…people who have less experience to run for that office and it could decrease the diversity of the candidates. Because right now, that’s one of the issues,” she said.
Here is a list of the eight amendements.
- Proposition 1: Authorizes professional sports teams and charitable organizations to conduct raffles at rodeo venues.
- Proposition 2: Authorizes a county to issue bonds to fund infrastructure and transportation project in undeveloped and blight areas.
- Proposition 3: Amend the Texas Constitution to prohibit the state4 or any political subdivision from enacting a law, rule, order or proclamation that limits religious services or organizations.
- Proposition 4: Changes the eligibility requirements for the following judicial offices: a justice of the Supreme Court, a judge of the court of criminal appeals a justice of a court of appeals and a district judge.
- Proposition 5: Authorizes the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct to state that residents of nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, or state-supported living centers have a right to designate as essential caregiver that may not be prohibited from visiting the resident.
- Proposition 7: Amends the Texas Constitution to allow the legislature to extend a homestead tax limit for surviving sounds of disabled individual as long as the spouse is 55 years old and resides at home.
- Proposition 8: Amends the Texas Constitution to allow the legislature to apply a homestead tax exemption for surviving spouses of members of the military to those fatally injured in the line of duty.
At the end of the day, voting advocates said their goal is to have every eligible Texas cast ballots in every election. Historically, that isn’t the case.
Most voters participate in the presidential or mid-term elections. Chimene said that is why participation in this particular election is so important.
“Your vote counts even more in this election because so few people vote in it,” she said.
Early voting ends October 29th. The election date is November 2.
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