Alabamians will go to the polls tomorrow (Nov. 8) to decide numerous statewide races, choose whether or not to reorganize the state constitution and weigh in on 10 constitutional amendments.
Races for governor, U.S. Senate and the Alabama Legislature will be on the ballot.
Voters also will decide on the Constitution of Alabama 2022, a reorganized version of the state’s 1901 constitution.
The effort would remove racist language from the current constitution, delete repealed and repeated portions, arrange local amendments by county and place related amendments together in a more logical form.
Amendments
In addition, 10 constitutional amendments are on the ballot. Here’s a rundown of those:
- Amendment 1 would create Aniah’s Law, which would limit bail for individuals accused of specified violent crimes. It is named after Aniah Blanchard, who was murdered by a man that was out on bond for attempted murder.
- Amendment 2 would allow state, county and municipal governments to spend federal stimulus funding through grants for broadband infrastructure projects. The state has already allocated money for this purpose.
- Amendment 3 would require the governor to notify the state attorney general and a victim’s family before postponing or commuting a death sentence.
- Amendment 4 would require any law impacting a general election to be passed at least six months before the election.
- Amendment 5 deletes outdated language related to county probate courts’ authority over “orphans’ business.”
- Amendment 6 would allow towns that are already permitted to collect a special property tax to use those dollars to directly pay for construction projects instead of incurring new debt.
- Amendment 7 would give more power to local government. Under current law, only specified counties and municipalities are permitted to use public funds to sell property, lend credit or become indebted for economic development purposes.This amendment would extend that power to all local governments.
- Amendments 8 and 9 would give jurisdiction of privately owned sewer systems in Shelby, Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties to the Public Service Commission.
- Amendment 10, if the reorganized 2022 constitution and all 10 amendments are adopted, would incorporate those amendments in a logical position within the new constitution, instead of appearing as a separate list at the end of the document.
Abortion measures
Nationally, several congressional seats are up for grabs, and voters in five states will decide on abortion-related measures.
In California, Michigan and Vermont, voters will decide whether to amend their state constitutions to establish some form of a right to an abortion.
Vermont is one of four states that allow abortions at any stage of pregnancy. New Mexico, Colorado and Alaska are the others, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization affiliated with the abortion-rights movement. California and Michigan permit abortions before viability, usually defined as 24 to 26 weeks of pregnancy.
Kentucky voters will decide whether to amend the state constitution to say the right to an abortion is not protected. A similar measure in Kansas failed earlier this year.
Montana voters will decide the fate of the state’s Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which requires doctors to provide care for infants “born alive” at any stage of development. Montana restricts abortions after viability.
Guttmacher reports that since the June 24 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 66 clinics across 15 states have ceased offering abortions.
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