Supreme Court justice amendment, sales tax defeated at primary

Jackson County voters in the Tuesday, Aug. 4 primary election opted to discontinue a countywide sales tax and voted with the majority of Kansas voters in rejecting a constitutional amendment that would change how Kansas Supreme Court justices are chosen, according to unofficial election results from Jackson County Clerk Kristie Richter.

Tuesday’s primary election, in which Jackson County’s results largely reflected the overall state vote in Kansas, saw a 35.4-percent overall voter turnout, according to Richter, who called it a “pretty good” turnout.

The vote count is unofficial until the final vote tally is finalized on Friday, Aug. 14, when the Jackson County Commission meets to canvass the votes.

The question of whether to renew a 0.4-percent county sales tax that had been in place for more than 20 years saw a narrow defeat in the primary polls, with 1,618 no votes (51 percent) to 1,557 yes votes (49 percent). The sales tax, which would have continued to fund county road improvements and was previously used to bring additional revenue to cities, will expire on March 31, 2027.

The state constitutional amendment question — which, if passed, would have ended the “bar-controlled” selection process for state supreme court justices and allowed Kansans to be allowed in direct election of justices — was rejected by county voters by a 405-211 margin of nays to yeas. The question was defeated at the state level by a margin of 61 percent no votes to 39 percent yes votes, it was reported.

Statewide, 61 percent of voters (375,355) voted against the constitutional amendment regarding how judges are elected in Kansas while 39 percent (236,800) voted in favor of the amendment.

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