Wisconsin voters will consider three constitutional amendments during the November 3, 2026, General Election. One would prohibit government from operating programs that discriminate against or give preference to individuals based on race, sex, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, education and government contracting, among other areas.
Known as the Equality Amendment, the proposal may sound like an obvious choice for a “yes” vote. However, the NAACP Wisconsin State Conference of Branches urges voters to VOTE NO.
In April 2024, Recruitment & Retention published an article on hiring decision-making that stated, “racial bias exists in the job market from the moment a job-seeker hits ‘submit’ on an application.”
Research supports that concern. Economists with the National Bureau of Economic Research released a paper detailing an experiment in which researchers submitted 84,000 job applications to 11,000 positions at 108 Fortune 500 companies between 2019 and 2021. Applicants with names perceived as white and female, such as Misty, Heather and Laurie, received the most responses. Applicants with names perceived as Black and female, such as Lawanda, Tameka and Latisha, received the fewest.
The experiment, the largest of its kind in the United States, found that while gender discrimination at the pre-interview stage was rare, racial discrimination was prevalent. On average, applicants perceived as white received 9.5% more interview offers than applicants perceived as Black.
In July 2024, the United States Council of Economic Advisers also noted that research continues to show differential treatment based on race in access to housing, employment, mortgage lending and business loans, even when applicants are otherwise similarly situated. Disparities also persist in government contracting, with minority-owned businesses receiving a smaller share of contract dollars than their representation among eligible firms.
The proposed amendment threatens to eliminate or restrict Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and the safeguards designed to address these disparities for government employees, students and contractors. Without these protections, Wisconsin risks reversing progress toward equal opportunity, diverse representation in the workforce and accountability for addressing systemic discrimination.
Denying someone an interview because of the name on their résumé or excluding a business from contracting opportunities because of the owner’s race are unacceptable forms of discrimination. Yet addressing the systemic barriers that contribute to these outcomes requires more than simply prohibiting discrimination on paper. It requires meaningful efforts to ensure equal opportunity.
The NAACP Wisconsin State Conference of Branches strongly urges Wisconsin voters to reject this amendment and VOTE NO on November 3, 2026.
