Campaigners for the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera Action Ricardo Lopez-Garcia (left) and Alejandra Pavon Guajardo (right) knock on doors in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood on October 11.Mother Jones illustration; Joel Angel Juarez for The Washington Post/Getty

This election cycle, voters in some states will be asked a confusing question when they cast their ballots: whether noncitizen voting — which is already illegal — is illegal.

Eight states have a ballot measure to amend their constitutions to make voting open to citizens only: Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. These amendments are intended to clarify that only Americans can vote in state and federal elections, even though it is already highly illegal for non-US citizens to vote (except in a few jurisdictions that specifically allow it). local races).

Former President Donald Trump and his allies, with the help of Elon Musk’s disinformation megaphonethey were promotion false claims of non-citizen voter fraud as part of a deep preemptive effort to cast doubt on the electoral process and, if necessary, challenge the results.

“I realized we need to focus on this threat of illegal voting in November because I absolutely believe this is how (Democrats) intend to try to steal the election this year,” Cleta Mitchell, who is behind the Integrity Network electoral. organized machinations to challenge a Trump defeat, Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA said earlier this year.

Without providing any evidence to support her claims, Mitchell said “illegals” are being registered to vote by nonprofits “that shepherd these migrants around the country, getting them IDs; getting housing, prepaid phone cards and food cards; and their registration in the voter lists.” (As I explained beforethere is no evidence that non-citizens vote in significant numbers.)

Election experts have warned that these non-citizen voting measures are not only unnecessary, but also risky. deprivation of rights the voters that are naturalized citizens. A recent one investigate by ProPublica, the Texas Tribuneand Votebeat identified at least 10 Americans in Texas who were mistakenly removed from voter rolls on suspicion of not being citizens.

Ballot measures to ban something that is already illegal can also serve as a stepping stone for the future introduction of more stringent and burdensome voter registration requirements, such as requiring proof of citizenship documents. Millions of Americans who don’t have a passport or birth certificate could be off from the electoral process as a result.

Non-citizen voting is essentially a myth. But here’s where and how it will appear on the ballot in the 2024 election.

Idaho

Voting as a Non-Citizen in Idaho IS a misdemeanor. The question on the voter’s ballot shall read as follows: “Shall Section 2, Article VI of the Constitution of the State of Idaho be amended to provide that persons who are not citizens of the United States shall not be qualified voters in any election held in the state of Idaho?” Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane recently said THE Idaho Capital Sun that his office had identified — and was in the process of removing — 36 possible non-citizens on registered voter rolls. “From the million-plus registered voters we started with,” he said, “we’re down to ten-thousandths of a percent of that number.”

Iowa

The amendment proposed in Iowa would change the language in the constitution to say “only a citizen” instead of “every citizen” has the right to vote. Meanwhile, state officials have already taken steps to contest the ballots of suspected non-citizens — a move that risks excluding eligible voters. Secretary of State Paul Pate, Republican, recently said his office identified 87 people who declared themselves noncitizens to the state Department of Transportation and who voted in the past 12 years. The audit also found 67 registered non-citizens who did not vote. Another 2,200 names were flagged as potential non-citizen voters, although some may have naturalized by the time they self-reported their status. The League of United Latin American Citizens and four naturalized citizens have since filed a process challenging the state’s program to remove suspected noncitizens from the voter rolls, arguing that the Secretary of State’s list “failed to account for naturalization and is designed to facilitate mass voter challenge.”

Kentucky

One of two constitutional amendments on Kentucky’s ballot in this election, Amendment 1 would add the following sentence to the constitution: “No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be permitted to vote in this state.” Again, this is already the case. But supporters of the amendment, such as Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, insist that the original text stating that “every citizen” can vote is not the same as saying “only citizens” can vote. Adams has PASSED that he saw no evidence of non-citizens attempting to vote in the election.

Missouri

Missouri’s first voter registration document check box ask applicants to certify that they are citizens of the United States. However, voters in the November election will see Amendment 7a ballot measure to ban non-citizens from voting (by changing “all citizens” to “citizens only” in the constitution) and at the same time ban ranked-choice voting. Two residents filed a lawsuit Flirty language of the ballot measure as “unfair and inaccurate” to lead voters to believe that non-citizen voting is not already illegal in Missouri. But in August, a judge upheld the language of the vote. Critics of the provision called it “ballot candy.” trick voters to approve the ban on selective voting.

North Carolina

In June, the North Carolina General Assembly, where Republicans hold a supermajority, passed a bill to amend the language of the constitution to read that “only a citizen of the United States with the enumerated qualifications shall be entitled to vote in an election.” (Currently, it states that “every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized” has the right to do so.) Between 2015 and 2022, the North Carolina State Board of Elections documented only eight cases of noncitizens registering to vote or voting. “The wording of this amendment, which excludes specific language recognizing that citizens may be born or naturalized, may confuse naturalized citizens and discourage them from exercising their fundamental right to vote,” ACLU of North Carolina. he wrote in September.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma voters will see on the ballot State question 834an amendment to clarify “that only citizens of the United States are qualified to vote in this state.” In May, the Republican-controlled legislature it passedalong party lines, a resolution to place the amendment on the ballot. If approved, it would have an effect Changing the a single word in the text of the state constitution: to say “only” — instead of “all” — American citizens can vote in Oklahoma. Oklahoma State Board of Elections website Member that registering to vote in the state as a non-citizen is a crime.

South Carolina

Similar to Oklahoma, the ballot measure in South Carolina would amend the state constitution to say that “only one citizen,” instead of “every citizen,” has the right to vote. But the way the measure appears on the ballot makes it unclear that the constitution already restricts voting to citizens. Voters are asked: “Section 4, Article II of the Constitution of this State, relating to voter qualification, shall be amended so as to provide that only a citizen of the United States and of this State 18 years of age and over who is properly registered has the right to vote according to law?” You can’t blame voters for thinking the answer to that question should be yes.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin already requires voters to be US citizens, and when registering to vote, people must check a box confirming they are citizens. As of 2019, the Wisconsin Election Commission has identified only three cases of non-citizens referred for criminal prosecution for voting illegally. In most cases, people were mistaken about their eligibility to vote. Conformable at the ACLU of Wisconsin, no jurisdiction in the state currently allows non-citizens to vote. But the supporters of the proposed amendment — which would change constitutional text from “every” to “only one” American citizen “may vote in an election for national, state, or local office, or in a state or local referendum” – you say it’s necessary because other states have allowed this thing.