Politics

An overview of statewide ballot issues, November 2014

2014 will see nine proposed constitutional amendments sent to the voters. In August, voters approved three amendments to the state constitution, while turning down two. Most notably, Missourians passed the controversial "Right to Farm" amendment, and rejected a ten year increase in sales tax to fund transportation projects. This Tuesday voters will decide upon amendments 2, 3, 6 and 10. Amendment 2: This amendment would allow a defendant's "evidence of prior criminal acts" to be admissible in court if the case involved "crimes of a sexual nature" against a victim under the age of eighteen. Read more here Amendment 3: If approved this amendment would dramatically alter how public school teachers are paid, evaluated, and promoted. It would tie pay to student performance evaluations, and restrict contracts to a maximum of three years, among other changes. Read more here Amendment 6: This amendment would create Missouri's first early voting procedure. If approved, Missouri would establish a six-day early voting window for mail-in and in-person ballots. Voters would not be able to cast ballots on weekends, and outside of the hours poling facilities normally operate. Read more here Amendment 10: If passed, this would place greater fiscal restrictions on the governor. In particular, it would disallow the withholding of revenue based on a projected shortfall, and require public debts be paid. Read more here

Luetkemeyer lands his fourth term in the US House

KBIA | By Ashley Reese

Published November 5, 2014 at 1:27 AM CST

Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer looks at election updates at the Cole County Republican watch party Tuesday night at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City, Mo.

The Missouri 3rd district race for U.S. representative was a landslide victory for Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer. He celebrated his victory at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City alongside family, friends, and other candidates in the Cole County Republican party.

The party also celebrated the victory of Mark Richardson, and Ralph Bray.

“This evening is kind of a mixture of a lot of folks who are friends or family members from existing office holders or people who are running for office here in Cole County, as well as my own staff members and family members, and political supporters as well” Luetkemeyer said.

As Bray’s supporters congratulated him, he traveled around the banquet room smiling humbly.

He said after he heard the announcement of his win, his first thoughts were about what his future will hold. He said he’s excited for what’s in store.

The room roared with approval all night long, as the polls placed Luetkemeyer in the lead from the start. Luetkemeyer said the reason he had “the election in the can” is because of his early start to his campaign.

“Well a lot of people think it's just rush, rush, rush the last few days of the election and the day of the election they think it's rush, rush, rush, but really, for me, because I run every two years, my campaign starts two weeks for today… so we spend the next almost 2 years campaigning,” Luetkemeyer said.

Democratic opponent Courtney Denton said she wasn't the only candidate in her party feeling the heat from the election.

"It was a tough night across the board for the democrats. We lost a lot of state positions in Missouri State and Missouri senate positions," Denton said.

Denton said she plans to run again, but this time start fundraising and campaigning earlier in the game.

Luetkemeyer said this strategy of continual campaigning has worked to his advantage. As he says, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

"At this point, if you have to be out campaigning on Election Day you're in really really big trouble. And so you know we feel really good about where we're at," Luetkemeyer said.

This is Luetkemeyer’s fourth term in Congress.