You probably don’t need this, as the amendments are very simple – and for once, they carry a little weight to them in terms of how government actually works in Louisiana. Most constitutional amendments deal in the minutiae of tax policy or offer up little dollops of pork for specific constituencies. These are a lot more general in nature and carry a bit more meat in terms of how Louisiana governs itself.

And the fact that only three amendments are on Saturday’s ballot means it’s a manageable mental load, instead of the eight we had to endure in November.

We shouldn’t have more than three amendments per election cycle. But you’ve no doubt heard us inveighing against the state legislature refusing to do its job and legislate rather than punting policy issues to the electorate. We hire these guys to handle these issues for us, after all.

Nevertheless, here it is.

Amendment 1 would prohibit people who are not U.S. citizens from voting in state and local elections in Louisiana. As idiotic as it may sound, there are states, for example New York and California, where some jurisdictions openly allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. You could argue this is already illegal in Louisiana, but putting it in the constitution would remove any doubt on the matter.

You can probably imagine we’re on board with this. Allowing noncitizens to vote is a special little gift the Democrats have endowed America with, and they do it for a specific reason. Let’s take a stand against it in Louisiana by passing this amendment.

Amendment 2 is a different animal. It would create an advise-and-consent role for the Louisiana Senate in gubernatorial appointments, specifically to the state Civil Service Commission. Currently the governor handles those appointments by fiat with no supervisory role for anyone. Frankly, the lack of checks and balances in so many of the gubernatorial appointments is one of the things which makes for Louisiana’s governor having such outsized power compared to his peers around the country, so we’re for chipping away at that. This amendment serves such a purpose and we’re voting yes.

Amendment 3 is just like Amendment 2, except instead of the Civil Service Commission this one would add Senate confirmation to members of the State Police Commission. We’d argue this is an even more needful change to the state constitution in light of the Troopergate scandals, in which John Bel Edwards corrupted the state police in order to secure their endorsement when he was initially elected back in 2015 and then proceeded to oversee the rampant theft of taxpayer dollars in the form of bennies for LSP top brass – and finally the killing of Ronald Greene and subsequent cover-up for electoral purposes in 2019.

Edwards will be gone in a little more than a year, but that doesn’t mean the threat of further abuse of the State Police can’t happen. The only way to safeguard against such shenanigans in the future is to impose some oversight of the agency – and the State Police Commission, which is supposed to be the oversight body, can’t do its job if it’s under the same fiat management as the agency itself is. We’re for this amendment, and we think you should be as well.

We’re not even fans, really, of the Louisiana Senate. It has traditionally been one of the wimpiest legislative bodies in all of America. But even some oversight is better than none.

This might be the only time you’ll see the Hayride telling you to vote yes on all the constitutional amendments on the ballot. Savor it. And then make sure you vote on Saturday.