NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Next week, millions of Tennesseans will head to the polls to vote in all kinds of races, including four changes to the state's constitution. One of those changes would remove slavery as a punishment for a crime in Tennessee.
But passing those amendments isn't as simple as an up or down vote.
In Tennessee, to pass an amendment to the state's constitution, it takes one step beyond just more yes votes than no votes.
The votes on an amendment are tied to the votes in the governor's race: the number of people voting for a constitutional amendment has to be more than half of the number of all the people voting in the governor's race — no matter who they're voting for.
But why?
The answer — according to Vanderbilt University Political Science professor Carrie Russell — lies inside the Tennessee State Library & Archives, where both inside and online, you'll find the many constitutions Tennessee has lived under throughout the years, including constitutions drafted in 1834 and 1870.
"In 1870, the Constitution was being written as a pushback against everything Tennessee experienced in the Civil War," Russell said.
It was in the 19th century that the constitutional provision tying amendments to other political races in Tennessee first appeared.
Back then, passing amendments were tied to the number of votes for representatives in Tennessee, not for governor.
"They want your right to cast a ballot and to have a voice in elections to be a function of you being politically mature, you're politically invested in your community," Russell said.
But in a post-Civil War Tennessee, Russell thinks there was a deeper reason behind making it harder to change the document that says how the state is governed.
"To maintain control," Russell said, "and to limit the ability of those who are not already in power to effect change."
Those in power, Russell says, all looked the same.
"Certainly not African Americans at the time," Russell said.
Fast forward to 1953, when the state held another Constitutional Convention.
"When you read through the convention notes in 1953 there's a lot of old familiar Tennessee names," Russell said.
That's when the change came to tie amendments to a single statewide office — the Governor — instead of dozens of smaller state house candidates, whose names people might not even know.
"Down-ballot voting, for time immemorial, some people just show up to vote for the top dogs, they have no idea who's running for the state house," Russell said.
As with so much of Tennessee today, Russell says the links are there to Tennessee's past.
"So much history," Russell said.
