By Richard Meek

Contributing Writer

River Parishes voters were split in the presidential election but were remarkably consistent in their support or rejection of the nine proposed constitutional amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Republican challenger Mitt Romney held a 63 percent to 35 percent edge over President Barak Obama in St. Charles Parish. St. James Parish voters gave the nod to Obama by a 57 percent to 42 percent margin and St. John the Baptist Pa-rish voters were even stronger in their support of the incumbent with a 62 percent to 36 percent spread.

Incumbent Cedric Richmond, a new-comer to the River Parishes because of redistricting as a result of the 2010 census, re-ceived his strongest support in St. John Parish with 46 percent of the vote in the 2nd Congressional District race. Richmond, a Democrat, garnered 39 percent of the vote in St. James but only 28 in St. Charles, where voters backed Republican Dwayne Bailey with 33 percent of the vote.

William Cassidy re-ceived overwhelming support from St. Charles and St. John pa-rishes in his bid for the House of Representative seat for the 6th Congressional District. St. Charles voters supported him with 78 percent of the vote and St. John 70 percent.

Area voters fell in line with the rest of the state on the amendments, including Amendment 1, which prohibits legislators to use the state’s Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly to cover budget deficits. The amendment gained 73 percent of the vote in St. Charles, 75 percent in St. James and 70 percent in St. John.

Statewide, the amendment passed by a 71-29 percent margin.

The high-profile gun law amendment, which requires courts use “strict scrutiny” when ruling on the constitutionality of gun laws, passed with no problem in the River Parishes. St. Charles voters approved the measure with 75 percent giving the nod, 70 percent in St. James and 71 percent in St. John.

Statewide the measure passed with 74 percent of the vote.

Regional voters were also overwhelming in their support of a proposed amendment that increases the property tax exemption for spouses of deceased veterans who had a 100-percent disability related to the service. The amendment doubles the homestead exemption.

St. Charles voters approved the measure with 77 percent voting yes, St. James 73 percent and St. John 72 percent.

The measure passed statewide with a 74 percent approval rate.

A proposed amendment that will deny public servants their public retirement benefits if convicted of a felon that was related to their office easily sailed through St. Charles Parish with 77 percent of the vote. However, the margins were far less in St. James, with 63 percent voting yes, and St. John, which came in at 68 percent.

Louisiana voters approved the amendment by a 71 to 29 percent margin.

River Parishes voters were consistent with the rest of the state in rejecting a proposal granting tax exemptions from city property taxes in New Iberia to property annexed into the city after Jan. 1. Statewide the measure fell 56 to 44 percent; in St. Charles it fell 55-45, 59-41 in St. James and 55-45 in St. John.

St. James voters in-terestingly went against not only the region but the rest of the state in voting against a proposed amendment that would allow state officials to grant local property tax ex-emptions to manfacturing concerns. Although the measure passed statewide with 52 percent, 56 percent of St. James voters were against it.

In St. Charles, the measure gained 55 percent support and 54 percent in St. John.