Speaking Personally, My reflections on our primary election season – and why you should vote NO on Amendment 3
Tue, 08/20/2024 - 2:16pm
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By:
Amanda Mendez, publisher
I’ll admit it. I was wrong about Bill Eigel. He didn’t split the vote. He surprised me and lost to Kehoe by only seven points, and I bet Missouri Republicans have not heard the last of him. His command of a crowd was impressive, even if I don’t like his politics.
Though I didn’t publish it, if you had asked me before the election, I would have told you the Howell County Sheriff’s race was going to be a close one. I was expecting razor thin margins, maybe even a recount. Roberts had compelling messaging. His major platform planks were grabby and controversial. Campbell, of course, had all the advantages and disadvantages of an incumbent.
All along, I suspected that Campbell had the support of the actual voters. As I said during election season—signs don’t vote. People do.
I thought Campbell would capture the support of the lifelong voters of the county who have been showing up at the polls every election day, whether or not the race was racy.
I thought Roberts’ path to victory lay in mobilizing the people who don’t normally vote. That’s a tall order. Voter turnout is shamefully low nationwide. In Howell County, turnout was 31 percent on August 6.
Roberts did win, handily. It wasn’t even close – a 70/30 split of the vote.
Most interesting was how very, very many ballots were cast in that election. When Howell Countians showed up to vote, they were voting for the sheriff. No other local race had as many ballots cast.
By the hundred, voters mobilized to make Matt Roberts the highest law enforcement authority in the county. He’s made some promises, and as he told me last week, he wants the voters to hold him accountable on “all of it.”
In our House Representative race, I was not surprised with the results. If hard work and preparedness win elections, Lisa Durnell certainly deserved the victory. She burst onto the scene as a virtual unknown and was challenged by two men – one of whom, Mark Collins, was a public official of 26 years’ service. The seat isn’t Durnell’s just yet. She still must defeat JoJo Stewart in December, but either way, Howell County is sending its first female representative to the House in January.
It's a historic moment.
Speaking of November, be on the look out for three Constitutional Amendments that will be on your November ballot. One of them is deeply concerning to me. Amendment 3 would make abortion in Missouri, not only legal, but protected by the state Constitution.
The “fair ballot” language is printed here, straight from the Secretary of State’s office.
A “yes” vote will enshrine the right to abortion at any time of a pregnancy in the Missouri Constitution. Additionally, it will prohibit any regulation of abortion, including regulations designed to protect women undergoing abortions and prohibit any civil or criminal recourse against anyone who performs an abortion and hurts or kills the pregnant women.
A “no” vote will continue the statutory prohibition of abortion in Missouri.
Vote no on Amendment 3.
As a woman, I reject the assertion that my rights include stopping the beating heart of a human organism with DNA distinct from my own. My rights end where my body ends -- where the body of an unborn baby begins.
Compassion for a mother’s circumstances cannot blot out the most basic human right – to live out your numbered days without an outside force ending that life.
“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish,” said Mother Theresa.
We don’t need to quibble over the word “child.” Just add “human” to any developmental phase, and it destroys the mental gymnastics that seek to convince you that unborn children aren’t people.
It’s a human fetus. It’s a human clump of cells. So am I. So are you. It’s a human being. Killing it is wrong. Always.
Vote NO on Amendment 3.