Amendment A ; Abolish Slavery in Colorado
I'm a registered in the State of Colorado. A few days ago my ballot came, after all of the typically voting options of what senator and governor and sheriff and whoever else was up for election, there was a list of amendment proposals that were also being voted on. One of these amendments was Amendment A. The ballot reads, "Amendment A (CONSTITUTIONAL) Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution that prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime and thereby prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude in all circumstances."
My first thought when reading this was what do you mean there is slavery in Colorado? Upon further research I found that what the amendment is saying is if a you vote yes people in prison can no longer be forced to provide free or less than value labor.
Prison labor is modern day slavery and according to a CNN article, "15 states and the United States Constitution allow slavery as a punishment for crime." Media is important when it comes to election time because the first thing people do and should do when reading something they don't understand is go online and research. In my opinion news coverage has done a good job of saying that prison labor is a form of slavery. I'm not sure how much Colorado media has covered this issue because obviously I am not in Colorado for the majority of the year. I've seen articles that say voters have a chance for redemption because this amendment was voted down in the 2016 election.
My critique of the amendment is it's wording on the ballot and the lack of immediate clarification upon googling that amendment. Not all voters are diligent in researching what they are voting for. Amendment A pushes for an emotional vote with its wording and does not clearly say what it means. In my experience of living in Colorado it has its diverse patches but overall it is very white. When things don't affect people they don't seem to care and if the slavery can't be seen because it is behind layers of fences and brick walls then it definitely doesn't effect people of voting status. If the amendment didn't pass in 2016 with this emotional tactic then why not change the wording?
My first thought when reading this was what do you mean there is slavery in Colorado? Upon further research I found that what the amendment is saying is if a you vote yes people in prison can no longer be forced to provide free or less than value labor.
Prison labor is modern day slavery and according to a CNN article, "15 states and the United States Constitution allow slavery as a punishment for crime." Media is important when it comes to election time because the first thing people do and should do when reading something they don't understand is go online and research. In my opinion news coverage has done a good job of saying that prison labor is a form of slavery. I'm not sure how much Colorado media has covered this issue because obviously I am not in Colorado for the majority of the year. I've seen articles that say voters have a chance for redemption because this amendment was voted down in the 2016 election.
My critique of the amendment is it's wording on the ballot and the lack of immediate clarification upon googling that amendment. Not all voters are diligent in researching what they are voting for. Amendment A pushes for an emotional vote with its wording and does not clearly say what it means. In my experience of living in Colorado it has its diverse patches but overall it is very white. When things don't affect people they don't seem to care and if the slavery can't be seen because it is behind layers of fences and brick walls then it definitely doesn't effect people of voting status. If the amendment didn't pass in 2016 with this emotional tactic then why not change the wording?
I think also if it hadn't been for this current election where people feel encouraged to participate in voting more, would people even be aware that this is actually a pretty big deal? I agree that news coverage has focused on prison labor instead of symbolically annihilating it, however I don't think the media has totally grappled with how much of our population is incarcerated and how they became incarcerated. For me, I recognize I live in a bubble where I don't know anyone who is/has been incarcerated and that's definitely affected my knowledge of incarceration. I definitely agree that when things don't affect people especially people with no knowledge of incarceration, they wouldn't care at all about it.
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