Platte County Republican Central Committee recommends voting for the November 2014 Ballot Amendments as follows:

Amendment 2: Evidence in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

We recommend a “YES” vote on Amendment 2. As Republicans we recognize that a core function of government is to protect our most vulnerable citizens. Amendment 2 will help protect children from the scourge of child sexual abuse. This amendment will allow juries to consider relevant evidence of a defendant’s prior criminal acts in prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim less than eighteen years of age. Currently, repeat child sex offenders are allowed to hide their prior crimes from the juries deciding their guilt. Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd helped draft this amendment and was instrumental in its approval by the legislature. Every Republican State Representative and Senator supported this amendment and the Missouri Republican Party has endorsed it.

Amendment 3: Teacher Tenure and Evaluation

We recommend a “NO” vote on Amendment 3. Amendment 3 would require teachers to be evaluated primarily on their students’ standardized test scores. We oppose this amendment because the standardized tests mandated by Amendment 3 are an imperfect measure of teacher performance. This amendment would also require teacher evaluation systems to receive state approval. We believe in local control of our school districts and we do note trust one-size-fits-all solutions imposed by Jefferson City bureaucrats.

Amendment 6: Early Voting

We recommend a “NO” vote on Amendment 6. This amendment would allow “no excuse” early voting for a period of six days prior to Election Day. We oppose this amendment because of the increased costs and opportunities for fraud associated with keeping the polls open for six additional days.

Amendment 10: Limitation on Governor’s Budgetary Powers

We recommend a “YES” on Amendment 10. This amendment will limit the Governor’s authority to hold back funding for education. Governor Nixon has repeatedly held back funding for public education, using our children as political pawns. In each case, Nixon has released the funds after he scored his political points. This amendment will provide a legislative check on the use of education funds as a political tool by Nixon (and any future governor).

(Sample ballot including amendments here)

Post written by Chris Seufert, Chair, PCRCC