2009 Constitutional Amendment Election

[white cloud]

Our election night returns are updated every five minutes.

http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/results/nov09_147_state.htm?x=0&y=0&id=394

[sonias]

1. Early results but we're getting our ass kicked on #11

Everything is passing. I expected that, but 11 is almost at 81%!

Sonia

[WolverineDG]

2. 9 is almost 80% for

don't mess with Texas beaches!!

And we knew 11 would be a hard sell, even to Democrats. Oh well, if the GOPers use it to give away land to build toll roads, I'll know I voted the right way.

dg

[sonias]

3. Yea Open Beaches!

You should read some of the teabagger comments on this one.

Here's a sample of one rant

The KLEPTOcrats can sure coin some fancy phrases about “free public access”, but it is not about any of that. Texas homeowners along the Texas coast don’t get “free access”, in fact they don’t get access at all. They cannot enter their front door or go to the fridge. They are not allowed the God given right to prop their feet up in their own living room and enjoy the beach. They do not have the right to bequeath their “bought-and-paid-for” property to the next generation.

:crazy:

What a loon!

:rofl:

Sonia

[WolverineDG]

4. My response:

that's because they were so fucking stupid, that they built a $500K McMansion on a sand dune. :nopity:


As my mother the Republican born & raised in Corpus used to say, if you can't afford to rebuild, don't buy a house on the beach! :rofl:

dg

[Justitia]

5. LOL - it's confirming my hypothesis that voters just vote "yes" to all these. -eom

[WolverineDG]

7. When I was in university, my government teacher was a Libertarian

and he said to always vote no on this stuff, especially if you didn't understand it, because they only do this when "they're up to something." This advice goes to state-wide propositions as well as local ones.

dg

[sonias]

8. There is usually a very reliable 40% against base

Almost any amendment, bond prop etc will start with 40% against. So when you get 80% for something you have actually shifted 20% of the no votes to vote yes. And that's amazing.

Postacards from the Lege blog AAS 11/4/09
Turnout about 8 percent in Tuesday’s election
(snip)
The margins on the 11 amendments — again, these are unofficial figures subject to change — varied considerably. Proposition 11, limiting the government’s exercise of eminent domain, passed with the widest cushion, 89 percent to 11 percent. No surprise there, considering the lofty place occupied by private property rights in the Texas psyche.

Proposition 1, allowing cities and counties to sell bonds to buy open space near military bases, had the narrowest margin, with 55 percent of voters favoring it. Proposition 4, freeing up about $500 million in dormant funds for public universities aspiring to become major research institutions, had the next-closest margin, with 57 percent voting their approval.

Sonia

[sonias]

6. Article on amendments passing

AAS 11/4/09
Texans vote to limit state's eminent domain powers
(snip)
Texas Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke called the passage of Proposition 11 an important but incomplete victory and said the eminent domain laws still favored the condemner of property.

The private property and anti-toll road organization Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom said the proposed amendment left open loopholes and did not address issues such as diminished access to remaining land after an eminent domain seizure.

Terri Hall, founder and director of TURF, said Texans clearly wanted eminent domain reform but that Prop 11 did not get the job done.

"The Texas Legislature needs to continue the push for further reforms and to prevent abuses," she said.

An amendment to guarantee public access to beaches also sailed through in Tuesday's poll, taking 77 percent of the vote.

"Texans have always supported open beaches, but now they have given public access to beaches an extra level of protection by putting that right into the state constitution," said Ken Kramer, Sierra Club state director.

Sonia