So the West Texas opposition was an opposition to tax exemptions, or a reflection of old loyalties to the Democratic party?
I'm not sure. There are regional trends but they don't always follow the regional trends found in political elections.
You have the No vote area along I-35, but this included both Travis County, and Comal and Kendall counties that are among the most Republican in the state. There have been a dispute in Boerne, county seat of Kendall County, about expansion of a Catholic church that had gone to the US Supreme Court.
CITY OF BOERNE v. FLORES, ARCHBISHOP OF SAN ANTONIO, et al.
No. 95-2074. So perhaps there was some negative feeling towards churches from that.
In other areas, churches might have encouraged their members to vote, especially if they had some expansion plans. There is a large church in Houston, 2nd Baptist, that has 5 or 6 separate campuses all around the city, most fairly new. If they had been getting hit for real estate taxes on their vacant land, they might pushed for the change in the first place.
And there might have been some negative impact from the redistricting special sessions. The first two were before the election, and the 3rd began a few days after the election.
In other places, there might have been carry over from the other propositions, especially #12, which limited non-economic damages (pain and suffering), and was the one that got all the attention. How do the votes on #12 match this one?
There were 22 amendments on the ballot at a special election, so many voters probably weren't familiar with most of the amendments. I remember waiting in line with a bunch of firefighters who were there to vote for an amendment that would let fire departments donated used equipment to volunteer fire departments; and were going through the amendments on the list trying to figure out what they meant.
BTW, here is the section of the Texas Constitution that was amended. The part that is underlined was added. So there really wasn't anything groundbreaking, but just clarifying existing language. It passed the House on a 124:5 vote, and the Senate on a 31:0 vote.
(a) All occupation taxes shall be equal and uniform upon the
same class of subjects within the limits of the authority levying
the tax; but the legislature may, by general laws, exempt from
taxation public property used for public purposes; actual places of
religious worship, also any property owned by a church or by a
strictly religious society for the exclusive use as a dwelling
place for the ministry of such church or religious society, and
which yields no revenue whatever to such church or religious
society; provided that such exemption shall not extend to more
property than is reasonably necessary for a dwelling place and in no
event more than one acre of land;
any property owned by a church or
by a strictly religious society that owns an actual place of
religious worship if the property is owned for the purpose of
expansion of the place of religious worship or construction of a new
place of religious worship and the property yields no revenue
whatever to the church or religious society, provided that the
legislature by general law may provide eligibility limitations for
the exemption and may impose sanctions related to the exemption in
furtherance of the taxation policy of this subsection; any property
that is owned by a church or by a strictly religious society and is
leased by that church or strictly religious society to a person for
use as a school, as defined by Section 11.21, Tax Code, or a
successor statute, for educational purposes; places of burial not
held for private or corporate profit; solar or wind-powered energy
devices; all buildings used exclusively and owned by persons or
associations of persons for school purposes and the necessary
furniture of all schools and property used exclusively and
reasonably necessary in conducting any association engaged in
promoting the religious, educational and physical development of
boys, girls, young men or young women operating under a State or
National organization of like character; also the endowment funds
of such institutions of learning and religion not used with a view
to profit; and when the same are invested in bonds or mortgages, or
in land or other property which has been and shall hereafter be
bought in by such institutions under foreclosure sales made to
satisfy or protect such bonds or mortgages, that such exemption of
such land and property shall continue only for two years after the
purchase of the same at such sale by such institutions and no
longer, and institutions engaged primarily in public charitable
functions, which may conduct auxiliary activities to support those
charitable functions; and all laws exempting property from taxation
other than the property mentioned in this Section shall be null and
void.
