Alabama Public Policy Foundation highlights constitution measures on November 8 ballot
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
Special to the News
The Alabama Public Policy Foundation, or APPF, is educating voters about the opportunity to update Alabama’s constitution while upholding existing state law by approving the Constitution of Alabama of 2022 and Statewide Amendment 10 on the November 8 ballot.
The current Alabama Constitution of 1901 has long been a subject of discussion because of its length, redundancy and inclusion of antiquated language.
Gradual revisions have been made, but efforts to rewrite the constitution have met resistance over legitimate concerns about invalidating more than a century of established case law and inviting alteration of statutes ranging from taxation to regulation.
APPF is encouraging a “yes” vote on the proposed Constitution of Alabama of 2022 and Statewide Amendment 10. APPF said the November 8 ballot measures are an opportunity to update the constitution without losing the settled precedent that has provided security and protection for Alabama citizens.
If approved by voters, the recompiled Constitution of Alabama of 2022 and Statewide Amendment 10 will update the constitution by removing three racist provisions, organize amendments in logical order based on county or topic and uphold existing case law to prevent re-litigation of the text.
The measures will appear separately on the ballot. The proposed constitution is technically a new document and must be voted on “outside” of the constitution itself. Whereas Amendment 10 is a change to the text and is handled as a proposed amendment to the constitution, just like the other numbered amendments.
Voters will have the chance to adopt the revised constitution by answering the question on the ballot: “Shall the following Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 be ratified?” If the majority of Alabamians answer “yes,” Alabama will have a new reorganized constitution free of racist language.
Voters will then have the opportunity to adopt Amendment 10, which importantly transfers all of the existing annotations to the constitution into the new document. Transferring these annotations preserves decided case law relating to the interpretation of the constitution and would prevent new litigation over old words.
Alabama Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, sponsored legislation authorizing the recompilation. The measure was adopted, without opposition, by the Alabama Legislature earlier this year.
“We now have the opportunity to move our state forward by eliminating racist language from our constitution so that it reflects who we are as Alabamians today,” Coleman said. “Though this has long been overdue, I am excited to give Alabama the chance to come together on this once divisive issue.”