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Alabama Amendment 4, Authorize Legislature to Recompile the State Constitution Measure (2020)
| Alabama Amendment 4 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Constitutional language | |
Status Approved | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
Alabama Amendment 4, the Authorize Legislature to Recompile the State Constitution Measure, was on the ballot in Alabama as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. It was approved.
A "yes" vote supported authorizing the state legislature to recompile the Alabama Constitution during the 2022 regular state legislative session and provide for its ratification. |
A "no" vote opposed authorizing the state legislature to recompile the Alabama Constitution during the 2022 regular state legislative session and provide for its ratification. |
Election results
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Alabama Amendment 4 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
|
|
1,222,682 | 66.82% | ||
| No | 607,090 | 33.18% | ||
Overview
What did Amendment 4 do?
This measure authorized the state legislature— during the 2022 regular state legislative session— to recompile the Alabama Constitution and provide for its ratification.[1]
According to the text of the proposed amendment, authorized changes to the constitution were designed to include:
- arranging it in proper articles, parts, and sections;
- removing all racist language;
- deleting duplicative and repealed provisions;
- consolidating provisions regarding economic development; and
- arranging all local amendments by county of application.
An example of language that was set to be removed includes Section 256 of Article XIV, Alabama Constitution, which states "Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race."[2]
How did this measure get on the ballot?
- See also: Path to the ballot
This amendment was introduced as House Bill 328 by Rep. Merika Coleman (D-57) on April 3, 2019. On April 25, 2019, the House passed the amendment unanimously (101-0) with three representatives (two Republicans and one Democrat) absent or not voting. The measure was amended and passed in the Senate unanimously (30-0) with five senators (three Republicans and two Democrats) absent or not voting. On May 23, 2019, the House approved the bill unanimously (97-0) with seven representatives (four Republicans and three Democrats) absent or not voting.[1]
Speaking about the motivation behind this amendment, sponsor Merika Coleman said, "We’ve gotten a lot of very bad national attention lately. If this amendment passes, it would send a message to the nation that we are no longer the Alabama of 1901. We are the Alabama that condemns the spirit of discrimination with which this constitution was actually developed."[3]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title was as follows:[1]
| “ | Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to authorize the Legislature to recompile the Alabama Constitution and submit it during the 2022 Regular Session, and provide a process for its ratification by the voters of this state.[4] | ” |
Ballot summary
The plain language summary provided by the state's Fair Ballot Commission was as follows:[5]
|
Constitutional changes
- See also: Alabama Constitution
The measure added the following amendment to the Alabama Constitution:
Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
The Legislature, upon the recommendation of the Director of the Legislative Services Agency through a proposed draft, may arrange this constitution, as amended, in proper articles, parts, and sections removing all racist language, delete duplicative and repealed provisions, consolidate provisions regarding economic development, arrange all local amendments by county of application during the 2022 Regular Session of the Legislature, and make no other changes. The draft and arrangement, when approved by a three-fifths vote of each house of the Legislature, through joint resolution, shall be submitted to the voters pursuant to Amendment 714 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 286.01 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, except that the text of the proposed constitution shall be published on the website of the Secretary of State and shall be made available, without cost, to any agency of the state or a municipality or county in the state that operates a public access website for publication on the website. The Constitution of Alabama, with the amendments made thereto, in accordance with this amendment, once approved by the voters, shall be the supreme law of the state.[4]
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2019
| Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.
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Support
Officials
- Alabama State Representative Merika Coleman (D)
Organizations
Arguments
Opposition
Former Officials
- Former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore (R)
Organizations
Arguments
Campaign finance
| Total campaign contributions: | |
| Support: | $0.00 |
| Opposition: | $0.00 |
Ballotpedia did not identify committees registered to support or oppose the amendment. If you are aware of a committee registered to support or oppose this measure, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
Background
Examples of language to be removed from the Alabama Constitution
- See also: Alabama Constitution
The measure was designed to authorize the removal of language considered racist from the state constitution. An example of language that was set to be removed includes Section 256 of Article XIV, Alabama Constitution, which states "Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race."[2][6]
Constitutional language on the ballot, 2020
- See also: Constitutional language on the ballot
In 2020, voters in Nebraska and Utah decided on removing the part of their state constitutions which allows slavery as punishment of a crime. Utah voters also voted on a measure to revise constitutional language to be gender-neutral.
The Alabama Constitution
Alabama has had six constitutions, the first of which was adopted in 1819. Other constitutions include those from the years 1861, 1865, 1868, and 1875. The current constitution of the state is the Alabama Constitution of 1901.
Amending the Alabama Constitution
Article XVIII of the Alabama Constitution includes provisions regarding how the state constitution may be amended. If three-fifths of the Alabama state legislators approve a proposed constitutional amendment, it is put on the ballot where voters must approve it by a simple majority. If both chambers of the state legislature agree by a simple majority vote, then a ballot question about whether to have a statewide constitutional convention can be placed on the ballot; if that question is approved by a majority of those voting in that election, then a constitutional convention will be called.[7]
According to law professor Susan Pace Hamill—in an article on the Encyclopedia of Alabama—the Alabama state constitution is the longest constitution in the world.[8] The constitution has been, as of June 2019, amended nearly 950 times since 1901. Many of the amendments are local amendments affecting a single county but are located in the state constitution.
Local amendments in the Alabama Constitution
Prior to the passage of Amendment 3 of 2016, local constitutional amendments were voted on by the entire state of Alabama, unless a three-fifths vote of the legislature and a unanimous vote of a constitutional amendment commission determined that the amendment strictly affected or applied to only one county or jurisdiction. Thus, statewide electors often voted on issues that primarily, but not entirely, affected other counties or jurisdictions. After the passage of Amendment 3, local constitutional amendments appear before only the voters in that particular jurisdiction. Amendments to the Alabama Constitution are tacked on at the end and arranged by numbers, not counties. This constitutional amendment authorized the legislature to recompile the constitution organizing the local amendments by county.
Other state constitutions
- See also: State constitution
The average length of a state constitution is about 39,000 words (compared to 7,591 words for the U.S. Constitution including its amendments). The longest state governing document is that of Alabama, which has approximately 389,000 words. That document is also the most amended state constitution in the United States, with nearly 950 amendments going into the 2020 election. The average state constitution has been amended about 115 times. The oldest state constitution still in effect is that of Massachusetts, which took effect in 1780. The newest is the Rhode Island Constitution, which was ratified by voters in 1986 after a constitutional convention was held which proposed deleting superseded language and reorganizing the state's 1843 Constitution. The Georgia Constitution is the next youngest and was ratified in 1983.[9][10]
Referred amendments on the ballot
From 1996 through 2018, the state legislature referred 95 constitutional amendments to the ballot. All but six of the amendments appeared on the ballot during even-numbered years. From 1998 to 2018, the number of measures on the statewide ballot during even-numbered years ranged from four to 15. Of the 89 measures that appeared on the ballot during even-numbered years, voters approved 81% (72 of 89) of the amendments and rejected the other 19% (17 of 89).
| Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1998-2018 (even-numbered years) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number | Approved | Percent approved | Defeated | Percent defeated | Annual average | Annual median | Annual minimum | Annual maximum | |
| 89 | 72 | 81% | 17 | 19% | 8 | 6 | 4 | 15 | |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Alabama Constitution
In Alabama, a constitutional amendment must be passed by a 60 percent vote in each house of the state legislature during one legislative session.
This amendment was introduced as House Bill 328 by Rep. Merika Coleman (D-57) on April 3, 2019. On April 25, 2019, the House passed the amendment unanimously (101-0) with three representatives (two Republicans and one Democrat) absent or not voting. The measure was amended and passed in the Senate unanimously (30-0) with five senators (three Republicans and two Democrats) absent or not voting. On May 23, 2019, the House concurred with the Senate's amendments and approved the bill unanimously (97-0) with seven representatives (four Republicans and three Democrats) absent or not voting.[1]
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How to cast a vote
- See also: Voting in Alabama
Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Alabama.
| How to cast a vote in Alabama | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Poll timesIn Alabama, polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. According to state law, "All polling places in areas operating on eastern time shall open and close under this section pursuant to eastern time except the county commissions in Chambers County and Lee County may by resolution provide for any polling place to be excluded from this sentence and to be open according to central time."[11] An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.[12] Registration requirements
Alabama requires that an applicant be a citizen of the United States who resides in Alabama. A voter must be at least 18 years old on or before Election Day. A citizen cannot have been barred from registering due to a felony conviction and cannot have been declared mentally incompetent by a court.[13] Voters cannot register during the 14-day period preceding an election. According to the Alabama Secretary of State's website:[13]
Automatic registrationAlabama does not practice automatic voter registration. Online registration
Alabama has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Same-day registrationAlabama does not allow same-day voter registration. Residency requirementsTo register to vote in Alabama, you must be a resident of the state. State law does not specify a length of time for which you must have been a resident to be eligible. Verification of citizenshipAn Alabama state law, passed in 2011, requires people to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.[14] However, as of June 2025, the law had not been implemented.[15] In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot require proof of citizenship with federal registration forms. That meant states would need to create a separate registration system for state elections in order to require proof of citizenship. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) said the following: "That’s an election administration nightmare ... You’d have to have two sets of poll books, one for federal elections and one for state elections, and that just doesn’t make any sense to me."[16] An individual applying to register to vote must attest that they are a U.S. citizen under penalty of perjury. All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment.[17] Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registrationThe Alabama Secretary of State's Voter View website allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirements | |||||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Alabama Legislature, "House Bill 328," accessed April 26, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedal - ↑ EJI.org, "Alabama Voters Pass Amendment 4 to Address Constitution’s Legacy of Racial Injustice," accessed February 28, 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ [https://www.sos.alabama.gov/alabama-votes/voter/ballot-measures/statewide Alabama Secretary of State, "2020 Statewide November 3, 2020, General Election Constitutional Amendment Ballot Statements," accessed October 1, 2020]
- ↑ Justia Law, "Alabama Constitution," accessed June 7, 2019
- ↑ Alabama Legislature, "An overview of Alabama's six constitutions," accessed June 7, 2019
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Alabama, "Constitutional Reform," accessed June 7, 2019
- ↑ The Green Papers, "The Green Papers: Constitutions of the Several states," accessed June 1, 2012
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Your State's Constitution - The People's Document," accessed June 22, 2019
- ↑ Justia, "Alabama Code § 17-9-6," accessed July 20, 2024
- ↑ NAACP Legal Defense Fund, "Alabama Voter Information," accessed July 20, 2024
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Alabama Secretary of State, "Voter Registration General Information," accessed July 20, 2024
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "Election Laws, Section 31-13-28," accessed March 1, 2023
- ↑ Phone conversation between Amée LaTour and Jeff Elrod, supervisor of voter registration with the Alabama Secretary of State office.
- ↑ Pew Trusts, "'Proof of Citizenship' Voting Laws May Surge Under Trump," November 16, 2017
- ↑ Under federal law, the national mail voter registration application (a version of which is in use in all states with voter registration systems) requires applicants to indicate that they are U.S. citizens in order to complete an application to vote in state or federal elections, but does not require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the application "may require only the minimum amount of information necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations and permit State officials both to determine the eligibility of the applicant to vote and to administer the voting process."
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