Ballot Question / Constitutional Amendment
The November 5 ballot has one more Ballot Question (Constitutional Amendment). This one undermines the right to vote. Like the other four this year, we urge everyone to VOTE NO.
The current language reads: "Every United States citizen age 18 or older who is a resident of an election district in this state is a qualified elector of that district who may vote in an election for national, state, or local office or at a statewide or local referendum." The text of the ballot question reads: "Shall section 1 of article III of the constitution, which deals with suffrage, be amended to provide that only a United States citizen age 18 or older who resides in an election district may vote in an election for national, state, or local office or at a statewide or local referendum?" In other words, the amendment would change "every United States citizen" to "only a United States citizen." See Ballotpedia for the full text.
Here are key reasons to VOTE NO on this proposed amendment.
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It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote. So making the change is unnecessary.
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It's vanishingly rare for someone who is not eligible to try to vote. Since 2019, only three people who were not eligible nevertheless tried to vote in Wisconsin!
- The legislature originally passed this language as a bill but Governor Evers vetoed it. Because the GOP-gerrymandered legislature could not muster the votes to override the veto, it is trying to amend the constitution instead. The Governor cannot veto a proposed constitutional amendment.
- More importantly, the change opens the door to unwarranted challenges to voter registration and participation by allowing election officials, poll observers, and others to challenge voters to prove their citizenship with a birth certificate, naturalization papers, or a passport, documents to which as many as one in 10 Americans lack easy access.
In short, this amendment would turn a right belonging to every US citizen, into a privilege that can be challenged when people register to vote, go to the polls, or have their names stricken from the voter rolls.