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Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1, Citizenship Requirement for Voting Amendment (2024)
| Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic Suffrage | |
Status Approved | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1, the Citizenship Requirement for Voting Amendment, was on the ballot in Kentucky as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024. It was approved.
A "yes" vote supported amending the constitution to require U.S. citizenship to be able to vote in the state. |
A "no" vote opposed amending the constitution to require U.S. citizenship to be able to vote in the state. |
Election results
See also: Results for voting-related and noncitizen voting ballot measures, 2024
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Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
|
|
1,208,898 | 62.43% | ||
| No | 727,515 | 37.57% | ||
Overview
What did this amendment change about voting in Kentucky?
- See also: Constitutional changes
This amendment amended the Kentucky Constitution to provide that only United States citizens can vote in elections in the state. This includes elections for school trustees and common school district elections.[1]
As of 2024, in Kentucky, noncitizens cannot vote or register to vote for any state or local elections. In order to vote in Kentucky, one must be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the state for at least 28 days before Election Day.
Can noncitizens vote in the United States?
- See also: Noncitizen-voting in the United States
In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed a law prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections, including elections for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and presidential elections. This does not apply to elections at the state and local levels.
Sixteen municipalities across the country allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections as of December 2023. Eleven were located in Maryland, three were located in Vermont, and two were located in California.
What do other state constitutions say about noncitizen voting?
All state constitutions mention United States citizenship when discussing who can vote in that state's elections. As of 2024, in 43 states, constitutional language discussing citizenship says who can vote (e.g. "every citizen" or "all citizens"), but does not state that noncitizens cannot vote. In Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Ohio, the state constitutions provide that citizens, but not noncitizens, have the right to vote.
Did other states vote on similar measures in 2024?
- See also: Background
Bans on noncitizen voting at the state level had become more frequent since 2018. Voters in six states approved ballot measures banning noncitizen voting from 2018 to 2022. In 2024, eight state legislatures referred constitutional amendments to the ballot to prohibit the state or local governments from allowing noncitizen voting. The eight states were Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Voters approved each constitutional amendment.
Jack Tomczak, Vice President of Americans for Citizen Voting, which supported the ballot measures, said, "We, and legislators who sponsor these, are getting ahead of fixing a problem that maybe has not reared its head as much in these states. It’s not like it’s happening everywhere and it must be stopped immediately. But preemption is not a bad thing." Jonathan Diaz, Director of Voting Advocacy for the Campaign Legal Center, said, "These proposed constitutional amendments are aimed really at two things: preventing local governments in those states from allowing non-U.S. citizens to vote in local elections, and advancing this false narrative that non-U.S. citizens are somehow participating in U.S. elections in large numbers, which is totally unsupported by any evidence or facts."[2]
As of 2024, municipalities in California, Maryland, and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C., allowed noncitizens to vote in some local elections. In November, voters in Santa Ana, California, decided on a ballot measure to allow noncitizens to vote in municipal elections.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title was as follows:[1]
| “ | Are you in favor of amending Sections 145 and 155 of the Constitution of Kentucky to prohibit persons who are not citizens of the United States from being allowed to vote in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, as stated below?
IT IS PROPOSED THAT SECTION 145 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY BE AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS: Every citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years who has resided in the state one year, and in the county six months, and the precinct in which he or she offers to vote sixty days next preceding the election, shall be a voter in said precinct and not elsewhere. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in this state. The following persons also shall not have the right to vote: 1. Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of treason, or felony, or bribery in an election, or of such high misdemeanor as the General Assembly may declare shall operate as an exclusion from the right of suffrage, but persons hereby excluded may be restored to their civil rights by executive pardon. 2. Persons who, at the time of the election, are in confinement under the judgment of a court for some penal offense. 3. Idiots and insane persons. IT IS PROPOSED THAT SECTION 155 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY BE AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS: The provisions of Sections 145 to 154, inclusive, shall not apply to the election of school trustees and other common school district elections. Said elections shall be regulated by the General Assembly, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in said elections.[3] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Kentucky Constitution
The ballot measure amended Sections 145 and 155 of the Kentucky Constitution. The following struck-through text was deleted and underlined text was added.[1]
Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
Text of Section 145:
Every citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years who has resided in the state one year, and in the county six months, and the precinct in which he or she offers to vote sixty days next preceding the election, shall be a voter in said precinct and not elsewhere. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in this state. but The following persons also are excepted and shall not have the right to vote.
1. Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of treason, or felony, or bribery in an election, or of such high misdemeanor as the General Assembly may declare shall operate as an exclusion from the right of suffrage, but persons hereby excluded may be restored to their civil rights by executive pardon.
2. Persons who, at the time of the election, are in confinement under the judgment of a court for some penal offense.
3. Idiots and insane persons.
Text of Section 155:
The provisions of Sections 145 to 154, inclusive, shall not apply to the election of school trustees and other common school district elections. Said elections shall be regulated by the General Assembly, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in said elections. [3]
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2024
Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.
The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 13, and the FRE is 47. The word count for the ballot title is 285.
Support
Supporters
Officials
- State Sen. Jason Howell (R)
- State Rep. Michael Meredith (R)
Organizations
Arguments
Opposition
Opponents
Officials
- State Sen. David Yates (D)
Arguments
Campaign finance
Ballotpedia did not identify ballot measure committees registered to support or oppose the ballot measure.[4]
| Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Oppose | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Background
Voting in Kentucky
- See also: Voting in Kentucky
- Check your voter registration status here.
According to the Kentucky State Board of Elections, in order to register to vote, a person must:[5]
| “ |
|
” |
The deadline to submit a voter registration application is 29 days before an election, unless that day is a state or federal holiday.[6] If mailed, applications must be postmarked by that deadline.[7]
Voter registration applications may be completed online, mailed to the county clerk's office, or submitted in person at the county clerk's office.[5]
Citizenship voting requirement ballot measures
From 2018 to 2024, voters decided on 14 ballot measures related to adding language about citizenship requirements for voting. Voters approved all 14 measures.
Partisanship of legislative votes on referred measures
In 16 states that placed constitutional amendments on the ballot to require citizenship to vote in state and local elections, Republican legislators supported the amendments, averaging 99.7%. In all but one state—South Dakota (2026)—every Republican legislator voted in favor; in South Dakota, 95.3% supported the amendment. Democratic support varied between states, averaging 43.1% and ranging from 0% in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin to 100% in Alabama (2020) and Iowa (2024).
State constitutions on suffrage and citizenship
As of October 2024, all state constitutions mention United States citizenship when discussing who can vote in that state's elections. In 43 states, constitutional language discussing citizenship said who could vote (e.g. "every citizen" or "all citizens"), but did not state that noncitizens cannot vote. In seven states (Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Ohio) the states' constitutions provide that citizens, but not noncitizens, have the right to vote.
Noncitizen-voting in the United States
In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed a law prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections, such as U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and presidential elections. Federal law did not address state or local elections.[8]
Sixteen municipalities across the country allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections as of December 2023. Eleven were located in Maryland, three were located in Vermont, and two were located in California. San Francisco allowed noncitizens to vote in school board elections by approving Proposition N in 2016.
In June 2022, the New York State Supreme Court for Staten Island overturned a New York City law to allow noncitizen voting, ruling that it violated the state's constitution. According to Judge Ralph Porzio, “by not expressly including non-citizens in the New York State Constitution, it was the intent of the framers for non-citizens to be omitted.”[9]
Path to the ballot
Process in Kentucky
- See also: Amending the Kentucky Constitution
A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for the Kentucky State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 60 votes in the Kentucky House of Representatives and 23 votes in the Kentucky Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. The Legislature cannot add more than four constitutional amendments to one election ballot.
Senate Bill 143
Senate Bill 143 was introduced to the Kentucky State Senate on January 29, 2024. On February 12, the amendment passed the Senate by 31-4. On March 15, the amendment passed the House by 72-12.[1]
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How to cast a vote
- See also: Voting in Kentucky
See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in Kentucky.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Kentucky General Assembly, "Senate Bill 143," accessed February 13, 2024
- ↑ NBC News, "GOP efforts to crack down on noncitizen voting extend to state ballot measures," September 14, 2024
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Homepage," accessed March 29, 2024
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Commonwealth of Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Registration," accessed July 26, 2024
- ↑ Kentucky General Assembly, "116.045 Voter registration, transfer, or change of party affiliation -- Availability of forms," accessed July 24, 2024
- ↑ Kentucky General Assembly, "116.0452 Standards for timely receipt of voter registration application -- Removal of names from registration books -- Confidentiality of registration location," accessed July 24, 2024
- ↑ Cornell Law School, "18 U.S. Code § 611 - Voting by aliens," accessed March 26, 2020
- ↑ Reuters, "New York judge rules law allowing noncitizens to vote for mayor is unconstitutional," June 27, 2022
- ↑ Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Election Day Information," accessed July 26, 2024
- ↑ Kentucky General Assembly, "116.045 Voter registration, transfer, or change of party affiliation -- Availability of forms," accessed July 24, 2024
- ↑ Kentucky General Assembly, "116.0452 Standards for timely receipt of voter registration application -- Removal of names from registration books -- Confidentiality of registration location," accessed July 24, 2024
- ↑ Commonwealth of Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Commonwealth of Kentucky Voter Registration Application," accessed November 1, 2024
- ↑ Under federal law, the national mail voter registration application (a version of which is in use in all states with voter registration systems) requires applicants to indicate that they are U.S. citizens in order to complete an application to vote in state or federal elections, but does not require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the application "may require only the minimum amount of information necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations and permit State officials both to determine the eligibility of the applicant to vote and to administer the voting process."
- ↑ Kentucky State Board of Elections, "Election Day Information," accessed July 25, 2024
- ↑ FindLaw.com, "Kentucky Revised Statutes Title X. Elections § 117.227. Confirmation of voter's identity," accessed July 25, 2024
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