Educate yourself on Nov. 3 ballot

In 2016, President Trump ran on a platform of expanding our economy, securing our homeland, and supporting our military and veterans. On these and countless other issues, he has kept his word.

President Trump’s policies spurred our economy to record growth, creating jobs and increasing take-home pay for Americans. These policies included a middle class tax cut, the removal of red tape and unnecessary regulations, and the reversal of policies that stifled American energy and restricted our ability to sell to other countries.

President Trump has worked tirelessly to defend our homeland. Through his strict enforcement of immigration laws, partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, strong support for our military, and defeat of ISIS, this administration has made the safety of Americans its top priority.

President Trump made sure the government fulfilled its commitment to our country’s veterans by reforming the Veterans Administration, including firing 500 of the worst managers in the agency while providing education and health benefits to our nation’s heroes.

President Trump has furthered his goal to “Make America Great Again” in many other aspects as well. He promoted fair trade by exiting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, renegotiating NAFTA, and securing new deals with trade partners. He created a task force on agriculture and rural prosperity which included actions to improve the lives of rural Americans. He fought against abortion providers and appointed three solidly conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Because of his hard work and tremendously positive results, I enthusiastically support President Trump for a second term.

During election season, we are reminded of the immense value of our voting privilege. No citizen, regardless of station in life, wields more power than you in the voting booth. I encourage everyone to educate yourself about the choices on your ballot before voting Nov. 3.

One of the most consequential, and potentially confusing items on our ballots is Constitutional Amendment 3. I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify exactly what this amendment does.

In 2018, Missouri voters passed Constitutional Amendment 1. This amendment, spearheaded by out of state, left-wing activists, contained multiple changes to Missouri election and ethics laws, including altering the state’s redistricting process.

Every 10 years, after the census, Missouri’s House and Senate districts are redrawn. Traditionally, the districts were drawn to keep communities of interest together.

Under Amendment 1, the redistricting process was dramatically overhauled. Instead of drawing districts that were compact, the new law required districts to be politically competitive. This, in effect, enshrined “gerrymandering” into our state Constitution. Gerrymandering is the practice of creating districts to benefit political parties. Accomplishing this goal requires a radical process where district lines must be drastically and creatively altered, potentially connecting entirely different areas of the state to one another. The amendment also empowers a “nonpartisan” demographer to draw the districts.

Amendment 3 rescinds these changes. Instead of drawing a map that ensures partisan competitiveness, it must be drawn to prioritize compact and contiguous districts that keep communities together. In addition, instead of a demographer appointed by a partisan state auditor, districts must be approved by a seven tenths majority of a bipartisan commission, ensuring the new maps are acceptable to both sides of the aisle.

Amendment 3 also eliminates lobbyist gifts and reduces campaign contribution limits.

I wholeheartedly support Amendment 3 because it ensures our redistricting process remains bipartisan, and instead of gerrymandering it retains the sensible and time-honored tradition of keeping districts compact and communities of interest together.

May God bless and keep you and our great nation.

Billington represents District 152, which includes parts of Butler and Dunklin counties.