Kansas voters reject GOP-backed measure to directly elect state Supreme Court justices

The Republican-controlled Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the primary ballot after the state Supreme Court had ruled against the party on issues like abortion.

Kansas voters have rejected a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would have allowed them to directly elect state Supreme Court justices, The Associated Press projects.

In Kansas, the governor — who since 2019 has been Democrat Laura Kelly — has the power to appoint state Supreme Court justices, chosen from a list created by a nine-member nonpartisan commission. The measure on Tuesday’s ballot, which was referred by the GOP-controlled Legislature, proposed abolishing that system in favor of contests that would have more closely resembled partisan races for other elected offices.

The move came after the Kansas Supreme Court dealt conservatives some setbacks in recent years, including a 2019 ruling that the state constitution protected the right to an abortion. Voters sided with that decision three years later after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Tuesday’s ballot measure campaign drew more than $12 million in spending on the airwaves, according to the tracking firm AdImpact, with opponents outspending supporters by more than 2-to-1.

Opponents of the initiative argued that Kansas voters already have some say in who their state Supreme Court justices are: After they are appointed, justices face retention votes from voters after one year and then every six years afterward.