More wisdom on voting NO on the constitutional amendment from former Rep. Don Hineman:

Let’s visit about the Kansas constitutional amendment for a moment, the one which would make Supreme Court justices elected by popular vote. “Just let the people vote”. “We deserve a say in who serves”. “Power to the People”

Sounds good, right? It certainly has plenty of popular appeal. But would it really be a good thing to turn supreme justices into politicians? I say no! And I submit as evidence just a small sampling of the postcard mailings I received a few days ago regarding several of the primary elections. These are just the postcards. All of us have also been inundated by television advertising and social media. And while some have been sent by the candidates, the overwhelming majority are sent by third party organizations. Some are familiar… Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), Planned Parenthood. But many other pitches come from outfits which most of us aren’t familiar with, like The 1776 Project and Take Back Kansas Inc.

“That is the confusing mess that awaits if we turn Supreme Court justices into politicians. How big of an issue might it become? In Wisconsin in 2025, when their justices first had to stand for election, an average of $51 million was spent on each race. Nationwide, interest groups dominated the arena, spending $85 million on judicial races in 2023-2024 compared to $70 million spent by the candidates. And by the way, who thinks it is a good thing that judicial candidates had that much cash to spend? Who were they beholden to? How does justice even survive in such an environment? When the process is dominated by dark money, how are we to make a truly informed decision?

Does anyone else find it strange that AFP and Kansas Chamber are advocating so hard for your “right to vote”? And if they were sincere about it, why did they support placing the issue on a primary ballot, since participation in primary elections is always light and dominated by a subset of the voting population? It appears to be much more a case of “pick your voters” rather than “let the people vote”.

I have one more major concern about this proposal. While it mandates popular election of Supreme Court justices, it further provides that the details of how that happens shall be “as provided by law”. What that means is that the Kansas legislature will be empowered to set the rules, and change those rules whenever they wish. Are you comfortable with that? I am certainly not, and I speak as one who was a member of the legislature for twelve years. This is the same legislature which placed the issue on the primary ballot in an effort to skew the outcome. Just reflect on the popular issues which currently enjoy overwhelming support by the citizens but which can’t even get a vote in the legislature. Entrusting them to carry out the details of this proposal is a terrible idea. It would certainly not be representative of the voice of the people.

Please join me in voting NO. We don’t need politicians, ambulance chasers or shyster pettifoggers sitting on the Kansas Supreme Court!”

Originally posted on facebook August 2, 2026