Amendment 3 to decide on Stockton's historical district status

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The community of Stockton, nestled in Northern Baldwin County, faces a statewide amendment vote on Nov. 6 to decide its future.

Residents will be depending on voters from across the state to help them decide a purely local issue and it’s all because of a mistake.

From state to Stockton

Tuesday, every Alabama voter will get a chance to decide on Amendment 3, which would make Stockton a historical district. That designation would keep the community of Stockton independent from annexation.

Amendment 3 supporters, like Elaine Riley, told us it would help them protect the history of the community and keep it from being lost to progress.

“Once you become annexed into another municipality a lot of your history starts to wane away they stop referring to you as Stockton and we just wanted to preserve this for longevity, for future generations,” Riley said.

Mistake put three on the ballot

Amendment 3 is a position local to Stockton, but voters from Gulf Shores to Huntsville and everywhere in between will see it on the ballot.

It's all because of a legislative mistake.

State Representative, Steve McMillan sponsored Amendment 3. He said a procedural mistake has put it on the state ballot after a senator’s vote was mistakenly recorded as a no.

“Whatever passed before this he voted against. Somebody moved that they pass these local amendments based on the previous roll call which would be a quick, easy way to do it, and he was recorded voting no,” Rep. McMillan said.

Word out statewide

That left Amendment 3 supporters in a predicament: getting the word out statewide through road trips, social media, and publicity.

All the while, supporters have tried to educate voters statewide why the amendment is important to Stockton.

“Once you start the word getting out then it just grows when you’re asking everybody to tell who they know and it just grows,” Riley said.

“It’s put us on the map,” McMillan said. “Everybody knows about Stockton now!”