Texas voters on Nov. 2 sent state legislators a strong message in support of open government by overwhelmingly approving Proposition 11 that requires record votes on state legislation.

The constitutional amendment passed by 885,964 votes (84.52 percent) to 162,260 votes (15.48 percent) statewide according to unofficial election returns from the Secretary of State’s office on Nov. 3.

The fight to get recorded votes began in the 2003 legislative session and took three sessions before lawmakers agreed to let the public decide. Newspapers, spearheaded by The Dallas Morning News, and state sunshine groups lead the push to make legislators’ votes more transparent.

Voters also approved 15 other constitutional amendments in the statewide election. See the SOS Web site for complete results.