On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Alabama voters will consider four proposed amendments to our state constitution. Here is where the Libertarian Party of Alabama stands and why.
We use one test for every amendment: the constitution should set the rules for government, protect your rights, and leave local decisions to local people. It is not the place for lawmakers to control their own pay, or for the state government to tell local schools how to run their day. Our platform says it directly: local governments “should not have to seek state legislature approval to make or change their laws.”
AT A GLANCE
Our Recommendation: NO on All Four
| 1: NO | Vacancy elections bundled with changes to legislative pay and travel oversight. |
|---|---|
| 2: NO | School mergers without a guaranteed vote in affected counties. |
| 3: NO | More statewide constitutional rules on school prayer policies. |
| 4: NO | A weekly anthem requirement that belongs with local schools. |
Amendment 2 deserves a better proposal. We would support a version that guarantees a vote to every affected county. This one does not.
| AMENDMENT 1 | NO |
Lieutenant Governor Vacancies, Pay, and Spending
Letting voters fill an empty lieutenant governor seat is a good idea. But this amendment also lets the Legislature set pay for the lieutenant governor and its own officers by a simple resolution instead of a law, and it says this applies “notwithstanding any other provision of the constitution.”
That carves an exception into the 2012 rule that ties lawmakers’ pay to what Alabama families earn. It also lets the Senate pick who approves senators’ travel spending.
No one should set their own pay without a check. If lawmakers want a vacancy election, they can put that on the ballot by itself.
| AMENDMENT 2: NO ON THIS VERSION | NO |
Consolidating Neighboring County School Systems
Alabama has no legal process for neighboring county school systems to merge. We think they should have that option. Small systems with shrinking enrollment could save money by combining.
But this amendment gets the process wrong. Two boards could vote to merge, and the plan they write would decide how each county’s school taxes and debt are handled. To force a vote, residents of an affected school system would have to gather written protests from a quarter of all its registered voters in just 30 days.
We know what petition drives take. To get on the ballot in Alabama, our party must gather signatures from 3 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the last governor’s race, and that takes months and paid workers.
Asking parents to gather 25 percent of registered voters in a month isn’t a safeguard. It’s next to impossible. And because the rule would be written into the constitution, fixing it would take another statewide election.
The Legislature should bring this back with a guaranteed vote in every affected county. Then we’ll support it.
| AMENDMENT 3 | NO |
Prayer and School-Board Policies
Students already have the right to pray at school. The First Amendment protects it, and the courts have protected it, including the federal appeals court that covers Alabama.
The daily Pledge, with the right to opt out, has been state law since 2019. Every school board has been required to have a religious-expression policy since 2015.
This amendment doesn’t add a right for students. It adds a duty for school boards: every board must adopt a policy for a prayer to be conducted at school, with complaints reviewed by the superintendent, and none of it could be changed without another statewide vote.
A prayer conducted at school is exactly where the hard questions start, because the line between a student’s own prayer and a school-run exercise is the line courts enforce. Alabama has passed four school-prayer laws since the 1970s. Three were struck down, after years in federal court paid for by taxpayers.
The courts’ rule is clear: a student’s own prayer is protected; government-run prayer is not. Students don’t need the state’s permission to pray. They need the state to stay out of it.
| AMENDMENT 4 | NO |
The National Anthem in Public Schools
Loving your country is a good thing, and any school in Alabama can play the anthem every morning right now.
This isn’t about the anthem. It’s about whether the state constitution should set a school’s weekly schedule. The rule falls on schools, not students, and once it’s in the constitution, changing it takes another statewide vote.
Local boards and parents should decide this, not the state government.
Vote Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Polls: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Bring: Acceptable photo ID.
Before you go: Check your polling place and your county’s sample ballot.
View Your County’s Sample Ballot
This guide covers the four statewide amendments. Your ballot may also include local measures.
Please share this guide with an Alabama voter who would find it useful.
