Did Ballot Referendum Language Doom an Anti-Slavery Measure?

Why one swing state banned forced labor in prisons, while a neighboring blue state didn’t.

by Paul Blest, More Perfect Union

One of the most stunning results to come out of last Tuesday was the news that a ballot referendum in California that would have banned the use of slave labor in prisons narrowly failed. 

In a state where incarcerated people can still be forced to work against their will for pitiful wages, some pointed to the news of Proposition 6’s failure as evidence that Californians are much more conservative than how they’ve voted in recent elections. During the same election, Californians did vote for tougher sentencing on drug and theft crimes while two of the state’s largest cities voted out reform-minded district attorneys. 

California rejected the measure even though no money and no official arguments were put forward against it, and the measure putting it on the ballot in the first place passed unanimously in the state Assembly. In neighboring Nevada, however, a similar amendment to ban slavery in the state constitution passed with more than 60 percent of the vote — even as the state voted for a Republican presidential nominee for the first time in 20 years. 

So what happened? The answer may lie in how the questions were worded on their respective ballots. 

While Nevada's question asked voters explicitly if they wanted to “remove language authorizing the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment,” California instead asked voters if they wanted to “eliminate involuntary servitude for incarcerated persons.” The provision in the California constitution that would have changed currently prohibits both slavery and involuntary servitude — except, for the latter, “as punishment to a crime.”

Lawrence Cox, a formerly incarcerated organizer with the group Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) that backed Prop 6, told More Perfect Union that he was “disappointed that our society and our state and the constituents in this state aren't as progressive as we may like to believe.” But he said that the specific language in the referendum “absolutely” played a role in Prop 6’s defeat.

“A lot of people don't even know what involuntary servitude is,” Cox said. “Before we started the campaign, and even now after the election, a lot of people don't understand that involuntary servitude is slavery.” 

The exact language of the title and summary was prepared by the office of Attorney General Rob Bonta, as mandated by state law. Cox said that LPSC “adamantly suggested” the word “slavery” be included on the ballot, but ultimately Bonta’s office didn’t use that language in the question, though it was included in an argument in favor of the proposition in the state voter guide.

“I think that played a big deal, because when people look at it, they think, ‘Okay, it's just a work program, or it's just work people need to work in order to be rehabilitated.’” Cox said. “[Slavery] should have been placed right at the forefront.” 

In a statement to More Perfect Union after the publication of this story, a Bonta spokesperson said that in determining official titles and summaries for ballot referendums, the Attorney General “considers a variety of materials and factors, including the complete text of the measure itself and any suggested title, how the measure would change existing law, the fiscal analysis prepared by the Department of Finance and Legislative Analyst, and public comments.” The spokesperson also said that the Attorney General doesn’t typically take a position on ballot measures given this role,

Incarcerated workers in California are paid as little as $0.74 an hour — less than the minimum wage during the Truman administration — and even inmate firefighters are only paid a maximum of around $10 per day. Cox pointed out that when incarcerated people in California refuse to work — which is often scheduled during the same hours as rehabilitative sources like refuse coursework — doing so can lead to punishment such as loss of family visitation and phone calls. 

California isn’t alone. More than 4,100 private companies profit from prison labor, according to a 2020 report by the Corporate Accountability Lab. In Alabama, incarcerated workers are funneled into companies like McDonald’s. The state takes a substantial portion of their wages and often denies parole, maintaining a cheap labor supply. 

“For those who do want to be rehabilitated, they know well that working a job for pennies an hour that only nets profit for private entities or our government is not rehabilitation, because that will not teach a person how to change their impulsive thoughts,” Cox said. “It won't help them develop insight that will not help teach them any skill that is going to be needed when they return to society.”

The loss of Prop 6 is a setback in a movement for states to remove the “slavery exemption” in the 13th Amendment from state constitutions. Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont all passed similar measures in 2022. In Nevada, however, it’s worth pointing out that Question 4 enjoyed broad support — winning a majority not just in Las Vegas and Reno, but also in two counties (Douglas and Storey) that each voted for President-elect Donald Trump by more than 30 points. 

The process of getting Prop 6 on the ballot took four years, Cox said, but he’s “determined” to keep fighting to ban all forms of slavery in California. 

“We’re not giving up. We can't give up,” he said. “We owe this not only to our ancestors and all those organizers and all those freedom fighters, activists that came before us, that went through so much more than we have to go through now just to be able to get us on a platform where we can still fight for social justice reform.”

This post has been updated with comments from Bonta’s office provided after publication.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the title on the California ballot, and has been reflected to update it.