Local and State Elections Affect Concordia Students
by Miriam Lipke
Most Americans spent the night of Nov. 8 eagerly anticipating results of the presidential election; however, the Nov. 8 elections brought much more than filling the executive branch and affected Concordia students in many ways through national, state and local results.
A particularly heated topic in the election was Referendum 426. This referendum would uphold the ban on the death penalty in Nebraska. This ban was passed by the Nebraska State Senate in May 2015. However, in this election, 60.66% of Nebraska’s popular vote chose to repeal Referendum 426, which will lead to measures to reestablish the death penalty in Nebraska.
California and Oklahoma had a similar decision to make, with Oklahoma voting to reestablish the death penalty and California voting to abolish it.
In addition, many areas in Nebraska voted on increases in sales and use taxes. Results of these tax propositions varied from area to area, depending mainly on the amount of increase and the planned use of the taxes.
The ballot also included proposed bonds for schools and universities, such as Southeast Community College, to update facilities, most of which did not receive proper vote percentage to proceed.
City Council, Board of Education and Mayor positions were filled throughout the state and country. Nebraska also elected Republican Jeff Fortenbury to the House of Representatives.
Within the judicial system, Nebraska voted to retain Chief Justice Michael G. Hearican, receiving a vote of 73.38 percent. Seward, which is in Congressional District One, voted to retain Judge Riko E. Bishop.
Many Concordia students find home outside of Nebraska and may learn their results for their home state and district.
Eight states elected new governors on Nov. 8, including Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota and West Virginia.
Marijuana legalization, another hot topic, appeared on the ballot for nine state. California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine passed propositions to legalize recreational marijuana. Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana legalized medicinal marijuana. Out of all the states who voted on the issue, only Arizona voted it down.
