Will Kansas voters approve the amendment to elect the state's Supreme Court justices on August 4?

Kansas voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have shifted the state to directly electing its Supreme Court justices, defeating the measure by a wide margin on Aug. 4, 2026. Unofficial returns showed roughly 62% of voters opposed the amendment. Republican legislators had placed the question on the low-turnout August primary ballot in 2025 as part of a broader push to reshape the judiciary after a series of court rulings on abortion and school funding that displeased conservatives. Kansas has used a merit-based selection system since 1958, in which a nominating commission of lawyers and non-lawyers screens candidates and forwards finalists to the governor. Opponents of the amendment, including former Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, warned that direct elections would make judges beholden to campaign donors and partisan interests rather than independent arbiters of law. The lopsided defeat echoed the outcome of similar judicial-election measures rejected by voters in other states in recent years. Community forecasters did not anticipate the result: all recorded votes in this market predicted approval, while voters actually rejected the amendment.