In half of Arkansas, selling this is currently illegal
It's Election Day, and for most Republicans the only question that matters is whether they manage to obtain a slim Senate majority for the next two years, after which even they acknowledge they will get blown out because 2016 will not be kind to the GOP, but control of the Senate isn't the only big question facing voters. Take Arkansas, for example, whereafter nearly 80 years, prohibition repeal
may finally arrive:
Voters will be deciding on several big issues Tuesday including the initiative for statewide liquor. If passed, it would mean all counties in Arkansas will be allowed to sell alcohol.
Currently, alcohol sales are banned in 37 of the state's 75 counties. The ballot measure would do away with those bans and allow alcohol to be sold in every county. Although it might at first seem counterintuitive, alcohol resellers are among the initiatives major opponents, some of whom fear that allowing alcohol sales throughout the state will reduce business in their shops.
But while Arkansas may be finally catching up to 1933 when it comes to prohibition, a proposed state constitutional amendment in Alabama would position the state as the most proudly intolerant in the entire nation.
Alabama already has the nation's longest state constitution, but wingnuts there are proposing a 957-word ballot measure to make it even longer—and ban the application of foreign law in the process. Why ban foreign law? Well, the wingnuts figure if they ban foreign law, they'll also be banning Sharia Law, and banning Sharia Law will save Alabama from becoming a caliphate.
The thing is, the ballot measure is utterly pointless and redundant; nowhere in Alabama has "Sharia Law" been imposed, and the only time Alabama courts have to deal with foreign law is when it comes to enforcing a contract that both parties have agreed will be governed by a foreign law.
The only reason to pass it is to give Alabama bragging rates to being the most intolerant state in the country, which is exactly why the pessimist in me says that of course people there will vote for it. But the interesting thing—the ray of sunshine—is that there is a broad coalition of opposition to it, including both Muslims and evangelical Christians. The evangelical opposition is notable: The head of the Alabama Christian Coalition has spoken out against it publicly, saying that it's not only pointless, but would be a "stigma" for Alabama in the nation and the world.
On the flip side, if Alabama does reject the measure, it would be a small sign of hope in what will likely be an otherwise dreary election day in the state.
