There are more ballot measures this election year than ever before aimed at banning noncitizen voting in local elections, and Republicans are emphasizing them to try to motivate their base to go to the polls.
Voters in eight states, including the battlegrounds Wisconsin and North Carolina, will decide if their state’s constitution should specify that only U.S. citizens can vote in elections. Noncitizen voting is already illegal in federal elections, and research shows improper noncitizen voting rarely happens. But the question has shown up more frequently on statewide ballots since 2018, as Republicans have increasingly fearmongered over election security and immigration.
Republican candidates in states with noncitizen voting ballot measures are campaigning on the issue. In Missouri, Rep. Eric Burlison said he is backing the statewide measure “because Democrats refuse to secure our elections at the federal level,” referencing Democrats “shamefully” voting against the SAVE Act.
“That’s why every American must get out this November and elect Republicans up and down the ballot and support efforts to secure our elections,” Burlison said in a statement to NOTUS.
(The SAVE Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship in order for someone to register to vote in a federal election. Statewide ballot measures would generally amend state constitutions to say only U.S. citizens can vote in elections, sometimes specifying that this includes state and local elections.)
The message echoes former President Donald Trump’s, who has baselessly claimed since 2016 that millions of people have voted illegally and has continued to suggest it will happen.
Noncitizens, including those residing in the District of Columbia, are allowed to vote in some local elections. Some municipalities in California, Vermont and Maryland allow residents to vote in local or school elections regardless of U.S. citizenship. In Takoma Park, Maryland, noncitizen voting has been legal in local elections for over 30 years, and voters in Santa Ana, California, will decide in November if noncitizen residents should be allowed to vote in municipal elections.
The state-level ballot questions are designed to stop that kind of voting, and they have been added to the ballots by Republican-led state legislatures. They are coming up in red states like Missouri, Kentucky and Oklahoma, and Republicans in some swing areas are also embracing these proposals.
In Wisconsin, Republicans have been door-knocking and giving out yard signs supporting the amendment while making the case that it’s politically advantageous for their party to pass these initiatives.
“I’m not aware of any municipalities or counties in Wisconsin that are practicing that, allowing noncitizens to vote, but I think this is a measure that we need to take before it does begin to happen,” said Jerry Helmer, the chairman of the Sauk County Republican Party in Wisconsin and a candidate for a state assembly seat.
Stephanie Soucek, the GOP chair in Door County, another swing county in Wisconsin, has also been door-knocking, handing out signs and reaching out to voters about the ballot measure. It’s a measure, Soucek said, that aligns with the party’s larger “America first” rhetoric.
“There’s a handful of states that do allow noncitizens to vote in their local elections,” Soucek said. “It’s opened the door a little bit, and there’s just some concern that that could potentially happen down the road.”
Several states where these amendments are coming before voters have other high-profile races, including Senate races in Missouri and Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin, Eric Hovde’s spokesperson, Zach Bannon, told NOTUS that the Republican Senate candidate “was proud to vote yes” on the referendum and that Hovde has been voicing his opposition to noncitizen voting throughout his campaign.
Sen. Josh Hawley’s campaign did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
“Republicans oppose illegal immigrants voting in elections. It is surprising that Democrats aren’t also embracing these proposals,” National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Mike Berg told NOTUS.
Democrats are pushing back on these referendums, pointing out that they’re not necessary.
Democrat Sarah Crawford, a North Carolina state representative who voted against putting the referendum on the ballot, argued they are “just a political tool to try to drum up more conservative voters,” the Carolina Public Press reported.
In Wisconsin, the Associated Press reported that Democratic state Rep. Lee Snodgrass said during a hearing, “I’m trying to wrap my brain around what people think the motivation would be for a noncitizen to go through an enormous amount of hassle to actively commit a felony to vote in an election that’s going to end up putting them in prison or be deported.”
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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.