Californians voted down Proposition 6, a ballot measure that eliminates the state’s constitutional provision that allows involuntary servitude for incarcerated workers. The measure would not have ended the practice of incarcerated people working for little to no pay, but it would have banned California prisons from requiring that they do so.

California has rejected a ballot measure that would have amended the state constitution to ban forced prison labor.

California lawmakers agreed to put Proposition 6 on the ballot at the urging of criminal justice advocates. Since 2018, at least a half-dozen states — including Alabama, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont — have approved similar measures.

California voters have rejected a measure that could have outlawed forced prison labor in the state, according to the Associated Press. Proposition 6 would have amended the state’s Constitution to remove the current provision that allows jails and prisons to use involuntary servitude as punishment against incarcerated people.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters have rejected a measure amending the state Constitution to ban forced labor in any form. The constitution currently bans it except as punishment for crime.

The measure would have amended the state’s constitution to repeal language that allows involuntary servitude as a form of criminal punishment.