Kansas abortion vote

Discussion in 'Political Discussions' started by nosborne48, Aug 3, 2022.

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  1. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Interesting political development. Kansas turned out in record numbers to defeat a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have allowed the Kansas Legislature to ban abortion. Turns out I'm wrong yet again when I predicted that abortion rights wouldn't have much effect on state elections.
     
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  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Wow, so in just twelve years we've gone from Proposition H8 winning in California to this initiative losing in Kansas.
     
  3. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    My thinking was that the abortion issue was already baked in to the State Legislature election process. Apparently not.
     
  4. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Although...Kansas might be a special case. The Brownback Years of ideologically directed (mis-) governance were traumatic.
     
  5. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Although turnout was much higher for this particular vote than others (despite holding it during a midterm primary, typically the lowest turnout election), part of me wonders if the confusing wording (a "No" vote was protecting abortion) actually led some Republicans to vote differently than they intended. Proud of Kansans for protecting a woman's right to choose today.
     
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  6. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    https://kansasreflector.com/2022/08/02/former-u-s-rep-tim-huelskamp-connected-to-false-text-about-kansas-abortion-amendment/

    It sounds like this was sent out to Dems. But I wonder how many Republicans also saw it and voted no because of the lie.
     
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  7. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Yeah, it was confusing. I haven't seen any irate letters to the editor of the Star yet though. I imagine they're coming.
     
  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    In Kansas. Amazing.

    They should be issuing ruby slippers to every woman in America.
     
    nosborne48 likes this.
  9. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    In Black and White.
     
  10. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    I heard that there was a good number of folks that registered to vote in Kansas just so they could vote for woman's choice.

    Perhaps my hope that women might save us or at least blunt the Republican tsunami wave in the 2022 midterms will pan out.
     
  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I hope so too, Bill. If it doesn't pan out then, I'm sure they will find a way to save us somewhere down the line, whether we deserve it or not. They (women) are my one hope and belief. I think I've said that before. :)
     
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  12. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    'Twas ever thus.
     
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  13. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    One interesting stat I saw regarding the Kansas vote yesterday. There were 750,000 votes for governor and 900,000 votes in the Abortion proposition.
     
  14. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    The U.S. Supreme Court returned the issue to the States for which the Justices are being pilloried. Come to find out maybe the State Legislative process really does reflect the sentiment of the community. I've said this before now; the People are sovereign. Either we govern ourselves or we don't.
     
    Rich Douglas likes this.
  15. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Until the states can fix gerrymandering, I don't have a lot of faith in the states' ability to represent. In Canada, the electoral maps are drawn by non-partisan commissions to reflect geographic and population boundaries, not political parties. In Florida, they're literally drawn by the Governor for himself: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/florida-senate-approves-gov-desantis-congressional-map
     
  16. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve. -- Alexis de Tocqueville
     
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  17. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Okay. But the people vote directly for the governor. Thus, they decide what kind of candidate will enter the office and make these decisions. DeSantis is governor of Florida because Floridian voters want that. They have the power to change it--as early as this November. But they won't. Thus, gerrymandering that favors Republicans is also what they're voting for.
     
  18. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Gerrymandering is largely in the eye of the beholder. The first use of the term was in 1812 according to Wikipedia. There has never been any serious legal question that assigning voting districts is a political act and that the party in power has the right to do so to its own advantage. There really isn't any other way. We do look askance at maps that deliberately and systematically dilute voting power based on race but even there, is it better to draw race based maps to guarantee a minority representative while making minority representation in the rest of the districts even less possible? That's a policy question for which there is no clear answer.

    There is no perfect map. There never has been a perfect map and there never will be. Politics is like that.
     
  19. rhodamine

    rhodamine New Member

    Kansas has only 3 registered parties - Rep, Dem, Libertarian and a no affiliation category. This last election was a primary for each registered party + amendment. Independents/unaffiliated could only vote for the amendment and not governor, thus the vote difference. The ban abortion agencies were in a full-court press by sending out 5 mailers and 2 text messages daily for the two weeks leading up to the vote. Compare that to 1 mailer and no texts a week from the other side.
     
    Bill Huffman likes this.
  20. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I know I've said this recently enough to be annoying, but the perfect map is the whole state.
     
    Bill Huffman likes this.

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