Ballot measure · Tennessee · November 3, 2026

Constitutional Amendment #1

On Tennessee's statewide ballot on November 3, 2026.1,2,3,4

Research draftReferred by the legislatureConstitutional amendment
How it got there
Referred by the legislature
Kind of measure
Constitutional amendment
To pass
See below
Researched
October 27, 2026

Research draft. We gathered this from official sources on October 27, 2026: election offices, state laws and court records, each linked to its source. Separate reviewers checked a random sample of 48 facts from the ballot-measure research against the cited sources and found no errors. The rest hasn't been reviewed fact by fact yet, so check the linked source before relying on anything here.

§1What your vote means

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

A yes vote

A yes vote would let courts deny bail before trial to people accused of a capital offense, terrorism, second degree murder, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated rape, grave torture, or any other offense that as of November 3, 2026 requires serving at least 85 percent of the sentence, when the proof is evident or the presumption great, and would require judges to state their reasons on the record.1,3 New art. I, § 15(a) and (b)

A no vote

A no vote would keep Article I, Section 15 as it is, under which every accused person can be released on bail with sufficient sureties except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great.1,3 Deleted text of art. I, § 15

§2How it got on the ballot

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Referred by the legislature. The legislature voted to put it on the ballot.1,2,3,4

Constitutional amendment. It would change the state constitution.1,2,3,4

The 113th General Assembly first approved this amendment as Senate Joint Resolution 919, and the 114th General Assembly approved it again in 2025 as Senate Joint Resolution 25 for the 2026 governor's election ballot.3,4

It is on Tennessee's list of statewide measures for November 3, 2026.1,2 None of the official sources we read calls the list certified or final, so we don’t either. What we couldn't confirm about the list is in the notes on Tennessee's measures.

§3What it needs to pass

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

A rule explained on its page. The share of votes needed to pass is set by Article XI, Section 3 of the Tennessee Constitution, which we could not read on an official site, so the exact rule is not stated here.3 Final resolving clauses (submission under Tenn. Const. art. XI, § 3)