Monday, November 29, 2004
The 21st Century Demands a Recount
Alabama voters voted to keep segregationist language in their Constitution by a slim margin. An amendment would have removed language requiring racial segregation. By a margin of just .13% --- just 1,850 votes -- Alabama voters decided to keep the Jim Crow era language. A recount starts today. (CNN)
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2 comments:
To be fair, the overriding issue was a clause in the amendment that might have opened the door for Montgomery to screw around willy-nilly with ad valorem taxes. There is a huge debate about whether that legal language would have actually done so -- and the VAST majority of the people voting against Amendment 2 were doing so on that tax issue.
In fact, I can assure you that FAR more people voted against Amendment 2 IN ERROR than voted against it for racial reasons.
UPDATE #2
I talked today with the Michael Ciamarra, the author of the original bill to remove the racist language from two sections of the Alabama Constitution.
In October, when it was brought to his attention that a legislator had hijacked his referendum language with additional stuff, he started the key opposition to Amendment 2.
Here's more on the issue, for those who so sanctimoniously believe Alabama residents are all rednecks. It would make for a good follow up link on the blog: http://www.alabamapolicyinstitute.org/press-2004-Amendment%202.html
(I think it deserves mention that it was a conservative think tank in Alabama that pushed for the initiative.)
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