By now you should have gotten your ballots in the mail -- Utah mailed them out last Tuesday.

And while people are arguing over the Presidential race and the Governor's race, many are confused over the four proposed Constitutional Amendments on the ballot.

Here's and attempt to clear things up:

First of all, completely disregard Amendment A and Amendment D.

I'm not kidding.

From the Utah Ballotpedia website: "Two amendments, Amendment A and Amendment D, will appear on the ballot, but were invalidated by court rulings and votes cast on the measures were ordered not to be counted."

Utah law requires any proposed amendments to be printed in a newspaper (they still print those?) at least two months prior to their appearing upon a ballot.

It's an old law, but a law nonetheless, so go ahead and disregard Amendments A and C. They will not count the results for those. (Note: the ballots had already been printed when the rulings came down from the Utah Supreme Court, so they two amendments are on the ballot, but will not be counted).

As for Amendment B, a "yes" vote supports increasing the limit on annual distributions from the State School Fund for public education from 4% to 5% of the fund.

A "no" vote opposes increasing the limit on annual distributions from the State School Fund for public education from 4% to 5% of the fund.

The money comes from public lands earmarked to benefit public schools. Revenue generated from activity on that land (mostly leasing and development) is put into permanent endowments, invested and then distributed to beneficiaries (one of which is public education).

Proponents of the Amendment say it is more money for public education without taking money out of taxpayer hands.

As for Amendment C, lawmakers simply want to make it an official law that county sheriffs be elected by the populace. While most counties already do this (including Washington County), legislators want to make it an official law.

A "yes" vote supports establishing in the state constitution that every county shall elect a sheriff to serve for four-year terms.

A "no" vote opposes establishing in the state constitution that every county shall elect a sheriff to serve for four-year terms.

"[The amendment] is very simple. It creates an opportunity for the voters of the state of Utah to determine through amending our state constitution whether or not (An elected sheriff) is something they want to protect in perpetuity," said the Amendment's sponsor, Brad Wilson.

For the record, Amendments brought to ballot have a very low pass rate. In the last decade, only 3 of 16 Proposed Amendments passed on ballots, a measly 19 percent.

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