Voters in five US states have slavery on their ballots.

Voters in five states will soon decide whether to tighten loopholes that contributed to the spread of forced labour by criminals.

None of the ideas would force immediate changes in the states' jails, but they could lead to legal challenges over how they use prison labour, a persistent legacy of slavery in the U.S.

The campaign is part of a national push to change the 13th Amendment, which bans enslavement except as a criminal punishment. This exception allows convicted offenders to work.

"The thought that you could ever conclude the sentence'slavery's alright when...' has to pull out your soul," said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, a criminal justice advocacy group fighting to eliminate the amendment's convict labour language.

Nearly 20 states allow slavery and forced servitude as criminal punishments. Colorado removed the language from its foundational documents in 2018, followed by Nebraska and Utah two years later.

Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont will vote on the topic in November.

Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Democrat from Memphis, was astonished when a colleague told her about the slavery exception in the Tennessee Constitution.

When she discovered the exception, she said, "We must repair it immediately." "Our constitution should represent state values"

Constitutions require long, complex steps to change. Akbari suggested amendments in 2019; the GOP-dominated General Assembly needed a majority vote in one two-year legislative cycle and two-thirds in the next. The amendment could be on the next gubernatorial ballot.

Akbari worked with the state Department of Correction to ensure her proposal wouldn't ban inmate working.

Voters in Tennessee will decide whether to outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude. This clause does not restrict a condemned prisoner from working.

“We recognise that prisoners can't be forced to work without pay, but we shouldn't prevent them from working,” Akbari said.

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