Alton, Mo. – Missouri, as well as the rest of our nation, held its general elections yesterday. The results of our state are in. Here is how people and issues stand.
Oregon County
Oregon County has 7,320 registered voters of which 3,121 came out to cast their ballot. Here is the rundown. For U.S. Senator replacing Senator Blunt, Attorney General Schmitt won with 77% of the votes. For state auditor, incumbent Fitzpatrick won with 82% of the votes. Representative Smith won for US Representative for District 8 again. At the state level, incumbent Atchison won the representative district for Oregon County beginning in January.
Local Electors
Locally, those who won in the primary elections had no one running against them. Therefore, they won. These include Judge Harvey Allen, David Stubblefield, Tracy Bridges, Betty Grooms, Dawn Holman, Linda Parrott, Justin Kelley, and Ila Smith.
Judges
Oregon County residents voted on a number of judges. Each of the three incumbents was voted back into office. They are Judge Fischer, Judge Ransom, Judge Goodman, and Judge Burrell.
Amendments
Oregon County had its own say in how the amendments should be. Amendments 4 and 5Â are the only amendments that our county passed. Our county also voted against having a Constitutional convention.
State Level Results
At the state level, many of the people Oregon County voted for were consistent with the state. Attorney General Schmitt on the seat for US senator. Fitzpatrick again won state auditor, and Jason Smith won US Representative for District 8. Both people running for the Missouri Supreme court won. They are Judges Fischer and Ransom. The two running for judges in the southern court of appeals won, They are Burrell and Goodman.
Amendments
Amendment 1 did not pass. However, amendments 3,4, and 5 all passed. The highly unbeneficial amendment 3 passed with only a margin of 127,000 with over 1 million voting in favor of destroying their brain cells. The request for a constitutional convention was voted down. Perhaps it should have been phrased as a convention of the states?
As I understood the issue, the request for a constitutional convention was with regard to the state constitution. Since the current constitution was adopted (1945), the Secretary of State has been required to put the question on the ballot at least once every 20 years, and so far it has failed each time (1962, 1982, 2002, and 2022).
A convention of states regarding amending the federal constitution is a matter for the state legislature, not a statewide referendum, and the Missouri legislature has passed a resolution calling for a convention of states. The latest information I’ve seen is that so far 18 states have passed such a resolution.
Thanks, Allen. We weren’t aware of the history of the state constitution but, we think, an Article V Meeting of the States to propose amendments to our US Constitution is in order. We would like to see the 16th & 17th repealed and an amendment to limit the terms of our Federal Senators and Congressmen. The way we elect senators now leaves the states with no representation in Washington and the politicians can fool the average citizen but it’s harder to fool their own state legislature. Taxes on income has grown into “Roundup” (the chemical that kills growth) for our economy, both individually and in business. Again, make the federal come to the states “hat in hand” instead of the other way around. Finally, being a senator or congressman was once a “duty” somewhat in the same way jury duty is viewed by many in our country. You served and then went home. Maybe term limits would help our representatives realize that they won’t be in Washington forever and they might start changing laws to be more favorable to the average “Joe” because that’s what they’ll be soon- living under the laws they pass- just like the rest of us.
I’ve been supporting a convention of states for several years, and fortunately, our state representatives and senators agree. Mark Levin wrote a great book almost a decade ago called “The Liberty Amendments” in which he proposes 11 amendments to the Constitution that would bring us more in line with what the founders intended the Constitution to be, and I would love to see all of those amendments be passed. I had my doubts about a convention of states before I read that book, but it convinced me that a convention of states is necessary, and he makes a good case for the amendments he proposed.