Chambers votes against Amendment 1

Published 9:00 am Thursday, March 5, 2020

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LaFAYETTE — Chambers County voters on Tuesday followed the statewide trend of overwhelmingly rejecting Amendment One, which would have taken away their right to vote for members on the state board of education.

It was defeated in Chambers County by a margin of 5,552 against to 1,121 in favor. Amendment One was soundly defeated in every one of the county’s 17 precincts.

Chambers County Superintendent of Education Dr. Kelli Hodge welcomed the results.

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“I am very excited about Chambers County voters supporting their right to continue voting on this,” she said Tuesday night. “Early results are showing that this is a statewide trend as well.”

Amendment One would have made the state board of education an appointed, rather than elected, body. Statewide, more than 76 percent of the voters were saying no to it in early returns.

Gov. Kay Ivey had been pushing for the change, saying that the current public education system was broken and that some kind of fundamental change was in order.

State Superintendent Dr. Wayne Mackey was opposed to the change and welcomed the vote. Many local superintendents, like Dr. Hodge, had been speaking out against Amendment One heading into the election.