NC Passes Citizen-Only Voting Amendment

By Katherine Zehnder
Carolina Journal

The citizens-only voting amendment to the state constitution of NC passed on election night with 77 percent in favor and almost 23 percent against. This amendment allows only citizens to vote in an election in the state of North Carolina.

Earlier this year, Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, introduced HB 1074 to amend the language in the state constitution to clarify that only citizens can vote in any election in the state. The bill passed in the House 99-12 and in the Senate 40-4 in June. Following the bill’s passage in the General Assembly, the amendment was put on the ballot.

According to the bill, the language of the amendment would read as follows:

“Only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people of the State, except as herein otherwise provided.”HB 1074

The current language in the state constitution reads: “Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized, 18 years of age, and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article, shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people of the State, except as herein otherwise provided (Article VI, Section I).”

 “I think if voters have the opportunity to go to the ballot box and make their say known on an issue that touches illegal immigration, which is […] very, very much top of mind, along with inflation, in the voters’ minds,” Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, told the Carolina Journal earlier this year. “I think they will. I don’t think they’ll be surprised, and I think they’d be delighted to have the opportunity to weigh in and change their constitution in that respect.”

In May, a poll conducted by the Remington Research Group indicated that 89 percent of likely voters believe that only US citizens should vote in North Carolina, while 87 percent supported a state constitutional amendment to appear on the November ballot that would clarify that only US Citizens are eligible to vote in state and local elections in North Carolina.

“I think if voters have the opportunity to go to the ballot box and make their say known on an issue that touches illegal immigration, which is […] very, very much top of mind, along with inflation, in the voters’ minds,” Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, told the Carolina Journal earlier this year. “I think they will. I don’t think they’ll be surprised, and I think they’d be delighted to have the opportunity to weigh in and change their constitution in that respect.”

“Granting noncitizens the right to vote undermines the right of American citizens to exercise their authority to influence the government,” wrote Dr. Andy Jackson, Director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, earlier this year. “It does so by diminishing the power of their votes.”

North Carolina is not the only state that voted on such a measure. Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Wisconsin also voted on similar ballot measures.

“While noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal, Republicans argue there is no adequate enforcement in place, and such unlawful voting could tilt the results of the presidential election,” according to a Fox News report.

In October, Congressional lawmakers led by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the DOJ’s failure to investigate and prosecute illegal immigrants registering to vote.

In Nevada and Arizona, both swing states, pending lawsuits from Republican groups are alleging that thousands of names on voter rolls are either noncitizens or have not been adequately vetted, according to a report from Roll Call.

 “North Carolina is only the latest of over a half-dozen states to approve citizen-only voting amendments to the state constitution,” said Dr. Jackson. “This amendment answers a fundamental question: Should voting in America be limited to citizens only? North Carolina voters overwhelmingly said that it should be.”