A proposed constitutional amendment to bar non-citizens from voting in Wisconsin passed during Tuesday’s election.

The ballot question was pushed by Republican lawmakers, despite current law already preventing non-citizens from voting in state or federal elections.

At the time the race was called, 71 percent of people voted in favor of the referendum, while 29 percent of people voted against it.

A small handful of cities and towns in other states allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. There is no evidence that illegal voting by non-citizens took place on a large scale in the last election.

“It appears that all the provision would do is close the door on a municipality deciding to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.” Bree Grossi Wilde, executive director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School, told TMJ4 before the election. “And I would also say, it’s not clear at this point that a municipality could determine that they would allow non-citizens to vote under current law.”

According to Grossi Wilde, seven states have already amended their constitutions to explicitly prohibit non-citizens from voting in local elections. Seven other states, including Wisconsin, had ballot measures in November to do the same.

However, when it comes to illegal non-citizen voting, she says existing preventative measures appear to be sufficient.

“There are a lot of disincentives for non-citizens not to vote in Wisconsin. It would be very risky on a lot of dimensions for non-citizens to decide to vote,” Grossi Wilde said.

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