Statewide Amendment One: What to know about your Alabama ballot

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ( WHNT ) — Voters across Alabama will be able to vote for or against Amendment One on Nov. 5. While it is being voted on statewide, it will only affect a few counties.

State Rep. Jamie Kiel (R-Russellville) sponsored the bill during the legislative session earlier this year. He says there are a couple of things voters should know before hitting the ballot box.

“I think the golden rule applies here: Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. So I would hope that if something like this happened in Mobile County or another part of the state, they would give us the same consideration,” Kiel said.

The Franklin County School System owns land in Walker County. Kiel explains that they can’t sell it because it is managed by the Alabama Department of Conservation. Amendment One would allow them to sell and lease the land, making money for their schools.

“The local school board will definitely benefit with the COVID money that’s fixing to play out, and a lot of capital needs,” said Kiel. “It’s a rural, poor school system that could really use the revenue.”

Barry Moore, Chairman of the Franklin County Commission, agreed.

“This couldn’t come to a better time than it is right now. Of course, you know, there’s many needs in the classrooms,” said Moore. “Building and maintenance, transportation issues with the school system. So this money would be greatly impacted and greatly used here in the county.

Political Analyst Steve Flowers said in general, statewide amendments like this one should be closely studied by voters before making the choice.

“There’s no county local home rule in the State of Alabama. That means every local county has to go to the state legislature and get an amendment to put on the ballot for everybody in the state to vote on. So we have thousands of amendments like this,” said Flowers.

Rep. Kiel said there are just trees on that land right now. He explained it would be a great spot to build a rest stop or restaurants similar to the rest of the I-22 Corridor.

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