Alabama voters will decide on two constitutional amendments related to the pledge of allegiance and student-led school prayer on Nov. 3, 2026.

Both amendments were referred to the ballot by the Alabama state legislature. In Alabama, constitutional amendments require a 60% majority vote in both chambers.

The first amendment, House Bill 511 (HB 511), would require each local board of education to adopt a policy for every public K-12 school to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag. HB 511 was introduced by State Rep. Reed Ingram (R-75) on Feb. 25, 2026, and is an updated version of House Bill 43, also introduced by Ingram. HB 511 passed the House by 94-3 on March 10, 2026, and passed the Senate by 30-0 on April 8, 2026.

HB 511 would also require each local board of education to allow for student-led prayer. Under the amendment, the prayer must be initiated and led by a student, and no student may be required to participate in a prayer. The amendment also provides that the policies adopted by local boards of education should allow for students to opt out of the Pledge of Allegiance or prayer.

Current Alabama law requires public K-12 schools to conduct the pledge of allegiance at the start of each school day, while allowing students to opt-out. Alabama law also includes a provision allowing teachers or students to lead a prayer specified in the statute (§ 16-1-20.2) at the beginning of any homeroom or any class. However, this was struck down in the U.S. Supreme Court case Wallace v. Jaffree in 1985, the Court ruling that the law violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

Rep. Ingram said that the amendment would not require students to participate in student-led prayer. He said, “This is a volunteer basis and the child, if they don’t want to hear it, they can step out of the classroom.”

The Rev. Julie Conrady of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa spoke against the amendment, saying, “Imposing these bills would create a further hardship to our students of diverse religious beliefs in our state, and so it is essential that we protect their beliefs and their parents’ choice in making those decisions about which faith communities they are a part of and which doctrines they are exposed to.”

The second amendment, Senate Bill 5 (SB 5), would require all public schools to broadcast or arrange for the performance of the first stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner at least once per week. SB 5 was introduced by State Sen. Gerald Allen (R-21) on Feb. 5, 2026. It passed the Senate by 23-5 on March 3, 2026—23 Republicans voted for the amendment, while five Democrats opposed it. The amendment then passed the House on April 9 by 75-27, with 74 Republicans and 1 Democrat voting in favor while 27 Democrats opposed.

State Sen. Allen, who sponsored the bill, said, “It’s a great bill to celebrate the anniversary of our country.”

State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures (D-33), opposed the bill as a constitutional amendment, saying, “I may do an amendment to put the Black National Anthem on there too, and we can play both of them and be totally diversified.”

Both measures join three other constitutional amendments on the Nov. 3, 2026 Alabama ballot. Alabama voters will also decide two constitutional amendments on May 19, 2026.