Election Musing: No Fun to Take the GOP Ballot!

As I was looking at the ballot for the coming election I saw again the results of living in an area where one party dominates the landscape locally.  Once you get past the national and statewide races, the ballot for republicans in Jackson County gets very boring.  Many races feature that very busy entity, "No candidate filed."  Meantime on the democratic ballot, we have such juiciness as the Moreno-Runions race, with its dueling mailers and flying accusations. You just can't beat the Jackson County Sheriff race for silliness and drama...
It leaves the right leaning voter with a difficult choice:  take a GOP ballot to have a say in the 8 person race to be the republican nominee for the US Senate race against incumbent Claire McCaskill, the 4 person race to decide the nominee for Missouri governor, the 4 person race for lieutenant governor, and so on, down to whether or not to give Jacob Turk another crack at Emanual Cleaver or take a Democratic ballot as to vote on those local people who in the end might have more influence in the daily life of the voter but have no say in who will take on Claire, or Jay Nixon on the GOP side.
Too bad you can't split the ballot apart or run the local races non-partisan; it would be interesting to see if removing this annoying Hobson's choice made a difference in results or turnout in the end.

Election Coming Up August 7

Most of the shouting has been about the big day in November but the election on August 7 will set the table for that big day, as well as determine winners of one party races locally.  In addition, three "issues" are on the   Kansas City ballot.  As a public service, the Observer will display the ballot language on the issues.  With 95 days before the big deal in November, some may think this August vote unimportant.  Reading these city ballot issues might help that apathy.  (Excuse me, you mean that sales tax has no sunset?)


OFFICIAL BALLOT
STATE OF MISSOURI
PRIMARY ELECTION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 2
Proposed by the 96th General Assembly (First Regular Session) HJR 2
Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to ensure:
That the right of Missouri citizens to express their religious beliefs shall not be infringed;
That school children have the right to pray and acknowledge God voluntarily in their schools; and
That all public schools shall display the  Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.
It is estimated this proposal will result in little or no costs or savings for state and local governmental entities.

OFFICIAL BALLOT
CITY OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
SPECIAL ELECTION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012
QUESTION 1
Shall the City of Kansas City, Missouri:
Prohibit the renewal of the expired annual $12.50 per motor vehicle fee,
Cease billing and collecting the trafficway maintenance tax by setting its assessment at $0.00,
Cease billing and collecting the park and boulevard maintenance tax by setting its assessment at $0.00,
Cease billing and collecting the boulevards and parkways front foot assessment by setting its assessment at $0.00,
Enact as a replacement a parks sales tax of ½-cent authorized by Section 644.032 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri for the purpose of providing for the maintenance and operations of local parks, parkways, boulevards and community centers,
Establish a dedicated fund to be used exclusively for street maintenance, and
Transfer no less than 7.5% of the net annual earnings tax receipts to the dedicated street maintenance fund effective January 1, 2013 and each following year for as long as the parks sales tax is in effect?
QUESTION 2
Shall the City of Kansas City, Missouri issue sanitary sewer system revenue bonds in the principal amount not to exceed $500,000,000 for the purpose of extending and improving the sanitary sewer system of the City, including compliance with the federally mandated Consent Decree for the Overflow Control Program, with the principal and interest of the bonds to be payable solely from the revenues derived by the City from the operation of its sanitary sewer system?

For voting information for Kansas City residents, visit the Election Board's website linked here.