Three US states vote to outlaw all slavery

THREE American states have voted to outlaw all forms of slavery, more than a century and a half after the federal government abolished the system.

Voters in Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont approved constitutional measures against slavery and involuntary servitude, closing a loophole that let prisoners be used for forced labour.

Oregon was expected to approve a similar amendment but the vote count was too close to call yesterday morning.

Louisiana rejected a similar measure, however, with 61 per cent to 39 voting to retain forced labour for convicted criminals. Commercial slavery has been illegal in the United States since the end of the Civil War in 1865 but states were allowed to retain involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment.

Before Tuesday, 27 states and territories – including Washington DC and Puerto Rico – still had such loopholes in their constitutions, according to the Abolish Slavery National Network, a campaign group trying to get the relevant wording removed.

Colorado ended its exception in 2018. Utah and Nebraska followed suit in 2020. The Abolish Slavery Network said that its initiatives enjoyed bipartisan support.

In Vermont, which has long considered itself the first state to outlaw slavery, the amendment passed with an 82 per cent landslide.

“We’re not surprised with the number,” the Rev Mark Hughes, executive director of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, told the Vermont Digger, a local website.

“The [majority] of folks that we spoke to over the last four years seemed to be unaware of the existence of the exception clauses in the Constitution and seemed to be eager to remove it.”