Nashville Tenn. (TN Tribune)–On August 28th at 4-6 p.m. at McGregor Park, Free Hearts and Montgomery County NAACP held a press conference to inform the public about Amendment 3 on the Tennessee ballot for the November elections. This event is happening simultaneously with events in Nashville, Jackson, Memphis, and Nashville (flyer is attached).
Tennessee legislature passed a constitutional amendment to the ballot that if approved by the voters this fall will remove slavery language from the Tennessee consitution. Sponsored by Sen. Raumesh Akbari of Shelby County, this motion passed in a bipartisan effort
In order to pass, according to the Tennessee constitution the amendment must receive 51% of the total votes cast in the upcoming gubernatorial election. In other words, the voter must vote for someone for governor as well as vote YES on Amendment #3. Note: The voter has the choice of writing in a name for governor or voting for one of the candidates appearing on the ballot. The only caveat is that the office must not be left blank; if it is, the Amendment #3 vote will not count toward the required total number of votes.
It is due to this often confusing provision that FREE HEARTS TENNESSEE, a statewide community organizing and grassroots advocacy organization is seeking volunteers to help spread the word and help educate the voters on this issue and urge them to vote yes to remove this language of the past from our state laws.
At the event, attendees can learn about how they can join the campaign and volunteer in their own communities. In addition Free Hearts has partnered with the Abolish Slavery National Network to live stream a panel on this subject at the groups national anniversary gathering taking place in Vermont at the same time.
Six states will attempt to pass constitutional amendments to remove slavery from their state constitutions in November 2022: Alabama, California, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont.
