The rejection of the measure highlighted the increasingly stark divide between the activities of Republican state lawmakers, often in legislatures gerrymandered to effectively guarantee GOP control, and the political and policy desires of American voters. In more immediate terms, the ballot measure’s defeat – on a day of extraordinary turnout – also provides a clear indication that the desire to defend abortion rights could be a potent issue for Democrats in the coming midterm elections.
[...]
In Kansas, there was hardly a contest to speak of. The “No” coalition – which opposed a measure that would have removed abortion rights from the state constitution – appears to be on track to win in a landslide. And it’s no low-turnout fluke. The overall vote count on the amendment eclipsed 869,000 at around 1 a.m. ET.
That figure exceeded Kansas’ general election turnout in the midterm year of 2010 and was approaching the 2014 total overnight. And overall primary turnout in the state two years ago – in the midst of a presidential campaign – clocked in at just over 636,000. In the 2018 midterm primary, the figure was lower: 457,598.
[...]
Meanwhile, Republican leaders and anti-abortion activists in several states are locked in court battles as they push to implement all manner of new restrictions or preexisting “trigger laws” over the objections of abortion rights groups, many of whom are arguing that those measures violate existing state law or constitutional protections.
CNN
Kansas – a deeply conservative and usually reliably Republican state – is the first US state to put abortion rights to a vote since the US supreme court ruled to overturn constitutional protections for abortion in late June.
The state will remain a safe haven for abortion in the midwest, as one of the few states in the region where it remains legal to perform the procedure. Many other states have undertaken moves to make abortion largely illegal since June.
[...]
Kansans turned out to vote in heavy numbers on Tuesday, in a referendum brought by the Kansas Republican legislature that was criticized for being misleading, fraught with misinformation and voter suppression tactics.
[...]
The vote was scheduled for August, when voter turnout is historically low, particularly among independents and Democrats, and the wording on the ballot paper was criticized for being unclear.
“The ballot mentions a state constitutional right to abortion funding in Kansas, but that funding has never really been on the table,” Mary Ziegler, a US abortion law expert from the University of California, Davis told the Guardian on Monday.
Kansans for Life, one of the main backers for a yes vote, told church congregants on 27 July that removing protections for abortion in Kansas would prevent late-term abortions, lack of parental consent and taxpayer funding for abortion, despite none of these being the law in Kansas.
[...]
After failing to get a more directly named referendum, “Kansas No State Constitutional Right to Abortion”, on the ballot in 2020, Republicans switched tactics, naming this amendment “Value Them Both”.
Guardian
Kansas now needs to vote out Republicans in the general election, because next time - and there will be a next time if Republicans hold power in the state legislature - they'll just call it something else, and move to suppress the vote even more.
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