By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Writer’s note: The statewide results and percentages were taken from the Texas Tribune article, “Texas Constitutional amendment election results,” published online Nov. 7, 2023.
Val Verde County voters followed their counterparts across the state in passing all but one of 14 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution in this month’s election.
Val Verde County Clerk Teresa Esther Chapoy told the 830 Times Wednesday a total of 2,040 voters cast ballots in the election, representing 7.63 percent of the county’s 26,743 registered voters, according to unofficial results tallied by her office.
The results of the election will become final when they are canvassed by county commissioners court later this month.
Chapoy pointed out, however, the total number of ballots cast in the most recent election was more than double those cast in the last constitutional amendment election, which was held in 2021.
Voters statewide approved Proposition 1, requiring state and local governments to provide evidence that regulation of generally accepted farming and ranching practices is needed to protect the public from danger.
The measure was approved statewide, with 79 percent of voters in favor and 21 percent against.
Val Verde County, with its long history of ranching and farming, approved the measure by an even larger margin, with 82.86 percent of voters in favor and 17.14 percent against.
Texas voters also approved Proposition 2, a measure that allowing cities and counties to exempt child care providers from property taxes on any facility used to run a child care business.
Statewide, voters approved the measure with 65 percent voting in favor and 35 percent voting against.
In Val Verde County, 65.74 percent of those casting ballots approved the measure, and 34.26 percent voted against it.
Across Texas, voters approved Proposition 3, a measure forcing lawmakers to ask voters for authorization before they could impose any new state taxes on residents that would be based on net worth or wealth.
Of those who cast ballots statewide, 68 percent approved Proposition 3, and 32 percent voted against it.
In Val Verde County, 71.57 percent voted in favor of the measure, and 28.43 percent voted against it.
Proposition 4, a measure allowing the state to spend $18 million on property tax cuts for homeowners and businesses, cut school districts’ tax rates and enact other tax changes, passed by a landslide across the state, with 83 percent voting for the measure and 17 percent voting against.
In Val Verde County, 84.22 percent of those who cast ballots approved Proposition 4, and 15.78 percent voted against it.
Texans also approved Proposition 5, a measure authorizing the state to create the Texas University Fund, a $3.9 million endowment to help “emerging” research universities across the state to enhance their research capabilities.
Voters statewide passed the measure, with 78 percent voting in favor and 22 percent voting against.
In Val Verde County, 64.96 of the voters who cast ballots approved Proposition 5, and 35.04 percent voted against it.
Across the state, 78 percent of Texas voted approved passage of Proposition 6, which creates a clean water fund administered by the Texas Water Development Board, to support a wide range of projects, including fixing the state’s aging, deteriorating pipes, acquiring more water source and mitigating water loss. Of those voting statewide, 22 percent voted against the measure.
In Val Verde County, 73 percent of voters approved of the measure, and 27 percent voted against it.
Across Texas, voters approved Proposition 7, to create an energy fund allowing officials to distribute loans and grants to companies with the aim of building new natural gas-fueled power plants.
A total of 65 percent of the state’s voters cast ballots in favor of the proposition, with 35 percent voting against it.
In Val Verde County, 66.82 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of the measure, with 33.18 voting against it.
Proposition 8 was approved by 69 percent of those voting statewide, with 31 voting against the measure, which creates a broadband infrastructure fund where $1.5 billion would be allocated to expand internet availability in Texas.
In Val Verde County, 69.70 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of Proposition 8, with 30.30 percent voting against the measure.
With the number of teachers and retired teachers living in Val Verde County, Chapoy said she believed Proposition 9 was one of the most-watched items on the ballot locally.
Proposition 9 would provide some retired teacher with cost-of-living raises to their monthly pension checks.
Statewide, the measure passed overwhelmingly, with 84 percent of Texas voters casting ballots in favor of the measure, while 16 percent voted against it.
In Val Verde County, the measure passed by an even larger margin, with 88.14 percent of voters in favor and 11.86 percent against.
Across Texas, voters approved Proposition 10, a measure exempting school districts, cities and counties from collecting property taxes on the value of equipment and inventory held by medical and biomedical product manufacturers.
A total of 55 percent of Texas voters approved the measure, with 45 percent voting against it.
In Val Verde County, 65.82 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of Proposition 10, with 34.18 percent voting against it.
Voters in Texas approved Proposition 11, a measure permitting conservation and reclamation districts in El Paso County to issue bonds supported by property taxes to fund recreational development and improvement.
Statewide, 63 percent of voters approved the measure, with 37 percent of voters casting ballots against it.
In Val Verde County, 61.08 percent approved the proposition, with 38.92 percent voting against it.
A total of 53 percent of the state’s voters approved Proposition 12, abolishing Galveston County’s office of county treasurer, an office that exists in other Texas counties.
Statewide, 47 percent of voters cast ballots against the measure.
In Val Verde County, 52.36 percent of voters approved Proposition 12, and 47.64 percent voted against it.
Proposition 13 is the only one of the 14 proposed amendments that failed statewide.
The proposition increased the mandatory retirement age for state judges from 75 to 79 and the minimum retirement age from 70 to 75.
Across the state, 37 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of the measure, with 63 percent voting against it.
Val Verde County voters again reflected their statewide counterparts, with 41.27 percent voting in favor and 58.73 percent voting against it.
Texas voters passed the final amendment, Proposition 14, with 76 percent of voters approving the measure and 24 percent voting against it. The measure creates a centennial parks conservation fund to invest more than $1 billion to create and improve state parks.
In Val Verde County, 78.57 percent of voters approved the measure, and 21.43 percent voted against it.
Chapoy also told the 830 Times the election went smoothly, without any major issues.
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