The 2017 Constitutional Amendment Election was held on Tuesday, November 7, and only 4.9% of registered Kerr County voters cast a ballot. This is the lowest county-wide turnout for a November election in at least the past 12 years. Constitutional elections are held every two years, and in 2011, and we had a turnout of 8.64%, which was the previous low — about 3.5 points higher than today’s turnout.
Absentee, early, and election day voting options were offered. About 5% voted by mail, 34% voted early, and 61% voted on election day. Four polling places were open — one for each precinct.
On the ballot were seven propositions to amend the Texas Constitution, and are discussed in great detail in this Voter’s Guide provided by the League of Women Voters.
Kerr County voters said “Yes” to all but two of the seven proposed amendments. Numbers 5 and 7 failed to receive a majority of support by our county’s voters.
Number 5 was a constitutional amendment on professional sports team charitable foundations
conducting charitable raffles. Proposition 5 would amend Article 3, Section 47(d-1) of the Texas Constitution, enabling certain professional sports team charitable foundations to conduct charitable raffles.
This measure failed in Kerr County by 51.87% to 48.13%.
Number 7 was a constitutional amendment relating to legislative authority to permit credit unions and other financial institutions to award prizes by lot to promote savings. Proposition 7 would amend the constitution to allow the legislature to authorize credit unions or other financial institutions to conduct promotional activities that can award a prize to one or more of the institution’s depositors selected by lot to encourage savings.
Kerr County voters said “No” by a margin of 50.18% to 49.82%.
The other propositions garnered wide majority support “For” the measures.
The statewide turnout ended up coming in at around 5.7%.
Statewide election night returns: https://enrpages.sos.state.tx.us/public/nov07_320_state.htm
Article by Aaron Yates
Editor’s Note: This post has been edited several times to update the turnout numbers and correct a statement about previous Constitutional Amendment Elections.
