Residents across eight U.S. states voted overwhelmingly to pass measures to amend their state constitutions and prohibit non-citizens from voting in state and local elections. These new laws are seen as a response to growing concerns over non-citizen participation in the democratic process, particularly in light of lax voting laws and an unprecedented influx of migrants.
The Daily Caller reports:
Non-citizen voting has become a concern among some critics amid a number of states that allow such individuals to participate in state and local elections in certain jurisdictions, including California, Vermont and Maryland, as well as Washington, D.C. Eight states voted Tuesday on constitutional measures that would bar non-citizens from participating in their respective state and local elections, though final vote tallies are still being conducted.
All eight — Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa and Idaho, and swing states North Carolina and Wisconsin — voted to pass those various measures, in all cases by substantial margins, according to The Associated Press and New York Times.
Leading up to the election, there were multiple cases of states finding lengthy lists of noncitizens on their voter rolls and sparring with the federal government over their attempts to remove them. In some cases, the federal government refused to provide the documentation necessary for states to verify citizenship and in others, they sued states, forcing them to put potential noncitizens back on voter rolls after they’d been removed, sparking major concerns about election integrity.
The Daily Caller continues:
Laws surrounding non-citizen voting have become a contentious issue between the left and the right. A number of Republican states such as Alabama, Texas and Ohio had identified tens of thousands of non-citizens on their voting rolls in the weeks and months ahead of the elections and moved to delist them.
The Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) sued these states for attempting to remove non-citizens from voting rolls this close to the elections. Some of these states are now suing the Biden-Harris administration in retaliation.
Vice President of Americans for Citizen Voting Jack Tomczak clarified in a statement that the measures passed on Tuesday do not change the voting rights of U.S. citizens. Rather, they prevent local governments from enacting policies that would allow non-citizens to cast ballots, thus ensuring the integrity of the voting process is upheld by keeping it exclusive to American citizens.
The passage of these voting measures is also a direct response to the ongoing national debate over voter identification laws. The Biden administration and many congressional Democrats have opposed stricter voter ID laws, arguing that they could unintentionally disenfranchise legitimate voters, especially those in marginalized and lower income communities, while proponents of voter ID call it a common sense measure meant to ensure that elections are accurate and fair.
NO non-citizen has the right (no matter what the immigration lawyers purport to say) to vote in the United States of America election. They should go back to their own country & vote there!