Bob Foos
Nearly everybody, it seems, got the message to vote no on “4 and 5.”
The no vote on Amendment 5, 1,165,085 (83.32%) was the largest total received by any candidate or issue on the Aug. 4 Missouri Primary Election ballot.
If approved, Amendment 5 would have allowed legislators to phase out the income tax and replace the revenue by other unspecified means, presumably by instituting and raising sales/use taxes on goods and services.
“Missourians saw through the bait-and-switch,” said Amy Blouin, president and CEO of Missouri Budget Project, a nonprofit organization that analyzes state budget and tax issues. “Voters clearly chose to protect our schools and services over a tax cut for the rich.”
Amendment 4 would have required a citizen-initiated amendment to be approved by all eight congressional districts in the state, instead of the current 51% requirement. While legislature-initiated amendments would have still only needed the simple majority to pass.
Over 80% also voted no against Amendment 4.
Amendment 1, on the other hand, was approved by 82% of the voters to extend the 1-cent sales tax to fund state parks and conservation.
Locally, Sen. Jill Carter received almost 70% of the vote to retain her seat. She defeated Ellen Nichols.
Roger Koch will be our new state representative for our 162nd District. He defeated Wayne Hayes 3,238 (64.5%) to 1,783. Koch will replace Bob Bromley, who met his term limit.
Lane Roberts, also termed out of the legislature, will be the new Jasper County Presiding Commissioner. Jimmy Morris, appointed after Tom Flanigan resigned as Eastern District Commissioner in October, was elected to complete the two years left on Flanigan’s term.
Were you wondering about those fighting ads between state senate candidates Lori Rook and Curtis Trent? That 20th District, which flows above our 29th, and has statewide implications on a couple of big issues. For one, Trent was a major proponent of Amendment 5. Rook beat him.
You can see all of the statewide results on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website.
Here are our ballot results (state/district on top, Jasper County on the bottom, when there are two sets of numbers):
