Voters head to the polls.

The Smith County Commissioners approved canvassing the Nov. 7 Constitutional Amendment Election votes, during a special meeting on Monday morning.

A canvass is required after each election to verify that the results are accurate and to make them official, County Elections Administrator Michelle Allcon said.

Of 155,333 registered voters, 23,152 ballots were cast, resulting in a 14.9% voter turnout in Smith County.

There were 328 ballots cast by mail, 9,836 cast during early voting and 12,988 cast on Election Day. Voter turnout was one more than the number of ballots cast due to someone accidentally forgetting to submit it into the ballot box, Allcon said.

For comparison, in the 2021 constitutional amendment election, 2,322 people voted early, and 8,281 people voted on Election Day, of 149,000 registered voters. In 2019, 2,649 people voted early, 13,220 people voted on Election Day, and there were 138,000 registered voters in Smith County.

The cities of Whitehouse and Overton and the Whitehouse and Lindale ISDs held special elections.

Here are the official results:

City of Whitehouse

Proposition A passed with 69.38%, or 555 voters, in favor while 30.62%, or 245 people, voted against the measure.

This will change how the city’s taxes are reported to the state and how existing tax dollars are spent in the city. The city previously said if the measure were to pass, Whitehouse would offer “greater transparency on the amount of property taxes collected, direct more existing funds to economic development, and reduce the impact of government regulations coming out of Austin.”

Whitehouse ISD

Voters overwhelmingly approved the school district’s Proposition A, with 2,390 people voting in favor while 673 voters were against it.

This proposition will provide additional maintenance and operating funding and maximize state funding. Whitehouse ISD would realize $1.6 million more annually through maintenance and operating funds, according to previous reporting.

Lindale ISD

A majority of citizens – 71.74% or 2,825 voters – voted for Proposition A, ratifying the tax rate of $0.9542 per $100 valuation. A total of 1,113 voters, or 28.26%, voted against the measure.

This rate will result in an increase of negative 6.867% in maintenance and operations tax revenue for the district for the current year as compared to the preceding year, which is an additional negative $1,365,897.

Lindale ISD will cut taxes an additional 21.54 cents, for 43.58 cents over the last five years. The six cents will generate an additional $1,400,000 in revenue that the school district will use to improve the Lindale ISD teacher pay scale and pay for support staff, according to the district.

City of Overton

In the Overton mayoral race, Curtis Gilbert received 12 votes to Richard Howell’s 3, according to unofficial results provided by Rusk and Smith County elections offices.

Three ran uncontested for council places 2, 3, and 4, respectively, including Christopher Hall, Raymond G. “Tuck” Moon,” and April Littlefield.

Statewide

Property tax cuts, a raise for retired teachers and billions in investments in infrastructure, research, tech and energy were approved Nov. 7.

Voters weighed 14 constitutional amendments on the ballot, but Proposition 13 which would have allowed judges to retire at a later age was rejected, with barely over one-third of Texans voting for it, according to the Texas Tribune.

And a few others — including a property tax exemption for biomedical inventory and equipment from property taxes and one to eliminate Galveston County’s treasurer position, were passing by only slim margins. The most definitive support went to Prop 4, the $18 billion property tax relief measure, which had 83% of the vote.

Here’s how Smith County voters voted on the propositions:

State Prop 1

For: 18,803 votes

Against: 4,090 votes

State Prop 2

For: 14,257 votes

Against: 8,252 votes

State Prop 3

For: 17,720 votes

Against: 4,865 votes

State Prop 4

For: 18,923 votes

Against: 3,826 votes

State Prop 5

For: 13,089 votes

Against: 9,440 votes

State Prop 6

For: 16,395 votes

Against: 6,255 votes

State Prop 7

For: 15,175 votes

Against: 7,459 votes

State Prop 8

For: 15,227 votes

Against: 7,387 votes

State Prop 9

For: 18,414 votes

Against: 4,436 votes

State Prop 10

For: 12,409 votes

Against: 10,019

State Prop 11

For: 12,493 votes

Against: 9,171 votes

State Prop 12

For: 11,258 votes

Against: 9,636 votes

State Prop 13

For: 8,675

Against: 13,738

State Prop 14

For: 16,310 votes

Against: 6,261 votes