It’s not shocking that voters appeared to approve amending the state Constitution on Tuesday in an attempt to limit the governor’s powers during future disasters.

Proposed amendments almost always pass.

Since 1958, voters had approved 83 of 94 previous ballot questions — which include constitutional amendments and referendums about incurring public debt, according to data from the Joint State Government Commission and Department of State.

What’s sad is that such a big change was made by such a small portion of state residents.

Voter turnout seemed to be better than usual for Tuesday’s municipal primary election, which I suspect was driven by the ballot questions. Still, results early Wednesday indicated that well fewer than half those eligible to vote on the ballot questions came out.

While Pennsylvania’s primaries are closed, allowing only Democrats and Republicans to vote for candidates, all registered voters, more than 8.7 million people, were eligible to vote on the ballot questions. There were only a bit more than 2 million votes cast across the state, according to figures from The Associated Press.

Big decisions — such as who should be at the controls of state government during a disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic — should be made with as much input as possible.

I hope we never face a crisis similar to COVID-19. But if we do and you don’t like the decisions that are made — or not made — remember you could have had a say.

Unofficial figures showed that about 54% of the votes tallied supported each of the amendments proposed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature.

Through the amendments, Republican lawmakers want to shift the decision-making powers to the Legislature during future disasters. The effect of the amendments is in dispute, though, and a court battle could be brewing, the AP reported.

Republican lawmakers, who were more interested in the economy than saving lives, were unhappy about Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s restrictions on business and other decisions during the coronavirus pandemic.

They asked voters to make a governor’s disaster declaration end automatically after 21 days unless the Legislature extended it. They also asked voters to give the Legislature the authority to end or extend a governor’s disaster declaration.

It’s interesting that voters almost always approve proposed amendments.

The best I can figure is that voters trust lawmakers to do what’s in the public’s best interest. So they go along with what has been suggested.

I don’t believe these amendments are in the public’s best interest.

Wolf’s handling of the pandemic wasn’t perfect.

He could have reopened parts of the economy sooner and allowed more people at outdoor events, where transmission of COVID-19 is less likely. His administration’s system for which businesses were granted waivers to open during the early months of the pandemic was a disaster itself. And he initially refused to release records about how those decisions were made.

Wolf should have accepted input from lawmakers much sooner, too. He didn’t set up a legislative task force until nearly a year into the crisis.

But none of that is a reason to change the system.

During an emergency, our souls now could be in the hands of lawmakers, who aren’t known for making swift decisions. The Legislature is out of session far too often and is too partisan.

I believe the governor should be leading the way during a crisis. And I say that knowing the political landscape could be different during the next one.

There could be a Republican in the governor’s mansion who refuses to take a pandemic seriously enough. And there could be Democrats running the show in the Legislature who can’t do anything about it.

The Associated Press reported that Wolf doesn’t believe a governor’s authority during a public health emergency would be affected by the amendments, as that authority bestowed by the state’s public health law.

Republicans claim the governor cannot order shutdowns without a disaster emergency in effect, according to the AP.

The last time Pennsylvania voters rejected a ballot question was in 1993.

By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, voters shot down a referendum for the state to incur up to $25 million in debt to provide a one-time bonus to state residents who served in the Persian Gulf War and to survivors of those who were killed.

Voters approved a similar referendum in 2006, at a reduced cost of $20 million.

The last constitutional amendment that was voted down was in 1989. By a nearly 3-to-1 margin, voters opposed a restructuring of the local tax system that would have replaced some property taxes with sales or income taxes.

Since the current version of the state Constitution was adopted in 1968, seven proposed amendments have been defeated while 51 have been approved, according to Joel Fishman, co-director of Duquense University’s Pennsylvania Constitution website.

I wish Tuesday’s amendments would have joined that shortlist.

But I will give credit where it’s due.

A lot of people, including some Democrats, were unhappy with how their lives were upended during the pandemic. Supporters of the amendments did a better job of selling their position and of motivating people to go to the polls to vote “yes” on the ballot questions Tuesday.

(Paul Muschick is a columnist for The Morning call of Allentown.)