Alabama Baptists are being urged to vote “yes” on an amendment on the Nov. 7 ballot that would prohibit prostitution in Jefferson County.
While he hopes all Christians would be opposed to prostitution, State Rep. Arthur Payne (Dist. 44-R) said he is concerned with the amendment’s placement on ballots.
“I’m afraid a lot of people are not going to vote on the amendments because they won’t take the time to read them,” said Payne, a member of First Baptist Church, Trussville.
The amendment is at the end of a ballot containing 12 statewide amendments, and Payne said he is concerned voters will assume the amendments are irrelevant to them.
Voters will cast ballots on the amendments when they vote for president in November. Payne said he is afraid the presidential and congressional contests will overshadow the amendments.
“A lot of times, the amendments don’t receive a lot of votes,” he said.
The amendment to Alabama’s constitution would prohibit prostitution and establish the levy of a fine “for those areas of the county outside the limits of any municipality.”
Payne said most cities have ordinances prohibiting prostitution, but outlying areas do not have any provisions. “This will make the act of prostitution illegal in unincorporated areas of the county,” he said.
Payne said he is also concerned voters may not read the amendment carefully and think a yes vote would legalize prostitution. “A lot of those constitutional amendments are confusing to people,” he said.
The vote is being publicized by an unincorporated community group that said its area has been negatively impacted by prostitutes. Wink Chapman of the Center Point Action Committee said the presence of prostitutes, along with an increase in pawn shops, litter and other factors have impacted the area.
“We have lost some dignity and pride,” said Chapman, a member of First Baptist Church, Center Point. “It is not the environment we want to raise our children in.”
Chapman said the group, which was organized in May, has been working to publicize the vote by distributing flyers in churches, having churches announce the vote on their marquees, contacting the media and other efforts.
“This is not a church-sponsored organization, but there certainly are churches participating,” he said.
Chapman said it is just as important for Christians to vote against prostitution as they did with the proposal on statewide lottery gambling last year.
“If we can defeat the lottery as soundly as we did, then we know that we can defeat this thing,” Chapman said.
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