4 U.S. states vote to ban slavery in all forms. Louisiana voted to keep it

In Louisiana, voters rejected the proposed constitutional amendment partly because the rewording might have legalized slavery again.

Voters in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont have officially abolished slavery in all forms by voting to amend their state constitutions, removing a legal exception that still permitted slavery and involuntary servitude as forms of punishment for crimes.

The initiatives on the ballot Tuesday don’t force immediate changes in the states’ prisons, where inmate labour continues to be used, but they may invite legal challenges over the practice of coercing prisoners to work under threat of sanctions or loss of privileges if they refuse the work.

But in Louisiana, voters rejected the proposed Amendment 7 that would have reworded the offending part of its constitution, partly because it might have legalized slavery again.

Louisiana’s Constitution currently states: “Slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except in the latter case as punishment for a crime.” The amendment would have changed that to: “Slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, but this does not apply to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice.”

The Democratic representative who first proposed the amendment, civil rights lawyer Edmond Jordan, urged voters to reject the proposal. According to the Louisiana Illuminator, the language of the amendment was watered down during the legislative process, and would have still permitted forced labour as part of a criminal sentence.

The nonprofit Council for a Better Louisiana also urged voters to vote down the proposal, and said that Amendment 7 is “an example of why it is so important to get the language right when presenting constitutional amendments to voters.”

In Tennessee, all forms of slavery were abolished with 79.54 per cent of the vote, according to ballot numbers from the secretary of state’s office.

The Tennessee Constitution now reads, “Slavery and involuntary servitude are forever prohibited. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime.”