Constitutions in more than a dozen states still have language authorizing enslavement and involuntary servitude as criminal punishment. (Photo: Trevor Bexon/Nevada Current)
Nevada voters will decide whether to get rid of slavery and involuntary servitude as a form of criminal punishment from the state constitution on the 2024 ballot.
If successful, the amendment would remove language from the Nevada Constitution that allows the use of slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishments. The amended text would read: “Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever be tolerated in this State.”
In Nevada, ballot measures must survive two consecutive sessions before going to a vote of the people. The constitutional amendment passed the Nevada Legislature unanimously in 2021 and 2023.
The ballot question will now appear on the November ballot where voters will need to approve and ratify the proposed amendment to the state constitution.
During its time in the Nevada Legislature, the amendment was sponsored by Democratic State Sens. Dallas Harris and Patricia Spearman, and State Assemblyman Howard Watts III.