AUSTIN (AP) – Campaigns for and against a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriages in Texas began gearing up last week as the Secretary of State’s Office announced the proposition will be second on the November ballot.

If Proposition 2 is approved in a Nov. 8 statewide vote, Texas will join more than a dozen states that statutorily and constitutionally ban same-sex marriage. Massachusetts is the only state that allows such marriages, although Vermont and Connecticut have approved same-sex civil unions.

State law already prohibits same-sex marriages. Supporters of the amendment say it would safeguard that law from judicial challenges by defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

With no major political offices up for grabs this cycle, opponents and supporters of the amendment will have to work hard to draw voters to the polls. A tiny fraction of Texans usually turn out for constitutional amendment elections.

Two years ago, just 12 percent of registered voters cast ballots in an election that gave constitutional authority to the Legislature to limit certain awards in civil lawsuits. About 7 percent voted in the 2001 constitutional amendment election.

“I want Texans to do better, and I feel like Texans will do better,” Secretary of State Roger Williams said. “These are issues that will affect us all long into the future.”

Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for the Liberty Legal Institute, which supports the ban, said his side’s biggest challenge will be reminding people to vote because they won’t see the usual deluge of signs and television advertisements for national or statewide political candidates.

“Our goal is to wake people up to let them know this election is going to occur and if you don’t vote, something could happen that you don’t expect,” Shackelford said, adding that opponents of the ban already are much better organized than his side is.

No Nonsense in November, a coalition of groups that oppose the ban, has set up offices in Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio and selected campaign coordinators for 35 of the state’s largest counties. They’ve begun canvassing neighborhoods to encourage people to vote against the proposition and plan to enlist volunteers to call voters at home.

“It’s a matter of the simple issue of educating voters that no matter where they stand on these issues, the constitution is not the place to be having a social debate,” said Glen Maxey, director of No Nonsense in November.

Williams set the order in which each proposition will appear on the ballot by drawing slips of paper from a cookie jar. Each amendment became eligible for a statewide vote after passing both the House and Senate earlier this year.

Among the eight other propositions on this fall’s ballot is one that would allow the Legislature to define interest rates for commercial loans and another that would authorize the denial of bail for a suspect who violates a condition of his or her release pending trial.