Timothy Holdiness 
Reporter 

In the coming weeks the nation will be voting for president, but that is not the only item on the ballot.  

Natchitoches voters will also be deciding on U.S. senator, U.S. house of representatives, public safety commissioner, city judge and eight ballot measures.  

Seven of the ballot measures are amendments to the Louisiana Constitution.  

The amendments were put forward by the Louisiana House of Representatives and state senate and will be at the end of the ballot. 

In recent years, the wording of the amendments has been difficult to understand. 

According to Ballotpedia, the rating of the readability of the amendments is among the lowest in the country at an average of eleven on a scale from ten to 32. 

Listed below is information on the amendments according to the Public Affairs and Research Council. 

Amendment one proposes the Louisiana Constitution states there is no right to abortion or to fund abortion. This amendment would only go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court.  

Amendment two will allow the presence or production of oil or gas to be considered when assessing property taxes if passed. 

Amendment three proposes to use the money saved in the Budget Stabilization Fund for disaster relief when a disaster is declared by the federal government. This fund, often referred to as the rainy-day fund, is currently only used for state revenue shortfalls.  

Amendment four aims to change the formula that is used to figure how much revenue the state can use each year. The amendment would get rid of the expenditure limit formula that is currently in use and replace it with a spending limit formula that will be created by the Louisiana House of Representatives and state senate. There are currently 25 states that use the spending limit formula.  

Amendment five proposes to allow new or expanding manufacturing establishments to make payments to a tax authority instead of paying property taxes.   

Amendment six aims to increase the amount of income needed to qualify for having someone’s property taxes frozen and not required to be paid under the Homestead Act. 

Amendment seven purposes to create the Unclaimed Property Permanent Trust Fund for funds to be used for investment by the treasurer. The interest of the investments earned would be put into the state’s General Fund.   

This amendment was proposed following a court battle between Governor John Bel Edwards and State Treasurer John Schroder regarding millions of dollars in unclaimed property revenue waiting to be claimed rather than being moved to the state’s General Fund.  

The last thing on the ballot asks whether sports betting should be allowed in Louisiana.