On Saturday, Louisiana officially joined the seven other states in ratifying their constitution to formally ban non-US citizens from voting in their state and local elections. Federally this has been banned for decades.
In 1996, U.S. Congress passed a law prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections. This prevents them from voting for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and presidential elections. Federal law did not address state or local elections.
Many Democrat-led municipalities across the country have been attempting to expose this loophole in the legislation. This is forcing Republican states to amend their constitution to clarify the ruling the federal law did not protect.
Ballotpedia reported, as of January 2022, “Fifteen municipalities across the country allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections. Eleven were located in Maryland, two were located in Vermont, one was New York City, and the other was San Francisco, California.”
Before this midterm, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, and North Dakota, were the only states to amend their constitution clarifying that “Every citizen of the United States” has the right to vote in their state.
During this election season, Louisiana and Ohio joined in this measure with widespread support. With 73 percent or 314,678 Louisiana votes, the state officially approved the amendment and with 77% or 3,032,817 Ohio votes, they did the same.
Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who just won re-election was the main voice behind the Ohio amendment saying, “It’s a bad idea to callously give away the right to vote to people that haven’t earned it. I think that citizenship has value, citizenship has status. So many of our ancestors worked so hard to earn that citizenship.”
Melissa John, a New York City school teacher and green card holder, was a vocal leader for the city to pass its noncitizen voting rights law, which although passed has been held in federal courts for further ruling
“We are all taxpayers,” John said. “So if my monies are going to be going into a system to fund and make changes in my immediate community, or wherever I teach or I work or I socialize, then I — and other individuals like myself — should be able to put our voice behind individuals that align with your philosophy.”
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