Voters in six states on Nov. 3 will resolve whether or not to approve poll measures that will amend their state constitutions or state legislation to make U.S. citizenship a requirement for voting.
The intently watched popular referenda mirror a push by President Donald Trump to crackdown on noncitizen voting based mostly on unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.
Voting-rights advocates warn additionally they increase the potential of sidelining thousands and thousands of eligible American voters.
“Fairly than strengthening democracy, [the amendments are] a political maneuver designed to justify future rollbacks of voting rights,” mentioned Rashane Hamby with the ACLU of Kansas in testimony final 12 months.
President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to ship remarks throughout a marketing campaign rally, October 29, 2026 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Photographs
Federal and state legal guidelines already prohibit noncitizens from voting in any federal or statewide election, however advocates for the constitutional amendments say much more safety is required.
“Legislation can change, as we all know,” mentioned West Virginia state Sen. Patricia Rucker, a Republican, at a press convention final month. “This proposed modification would make sure that no future legislature may simply merely change the election legislation with solely a invoice.”
No state structure at the moment features a citizenship requirement for voting. 5 states — Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia — have amendments on the poll. An Alaska initiative would create a brand new state legislation.
Of specific concern to some supporters: main cities in three states plus the District of Columbia that do permit some noncitizens to lawfully take part in native elections.
“There’s nothing that magically stops these unhealthy concepts at that state’s borders,” mentioned Arkansas state Rep. David Ray in a information convention final month.
Many civil rights teams and nonpartisan voter advocates worry the measures — and accompanying rules requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote — may disenfranchise tens of thousands and thousands of Individuals.
Voter registration purposes throughout early voting forward of the midterm election at San Francisco County’s election operations facility at Metropolis Corridor in San Francisco, California, Oct. 21, 2026.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs
Jemmie Lolita Pepper of Indiana, a former public-school educator who was born on U.S. soil however spent many years unable to show it, says she empathizes with either side of the controversy.
“I perceive the will to require proof so there will not be voter fraud or something like that. I really help that: no voter fraud,” mentioned Pepper, 63, in an interview. “However for these of us who needed to dwell years of not having [any documentation], you couldn’t show it. I could not.”
With professional bono authorized assist, Pepper just lately untangled a collection of clerical errors in state information — together with a misspelling of her first title and defective substitution of her final title — that had prevented her from acquiring an official authorities ID and, in flip, casting a poll. She now has one.
“They’d my title listed because the boys’ spelling, J-I-M-M-I-E,” Pepper recalled of her authorized odyssey. “I mentioned, ‘Nicely that’s nonetheless me. That is nonetheless me.'”
An estimated 21.3 million Individuals — or 9% of all eligible voters — are unable to readily current documentation proving they’re residents due to misplaced or inaccessible information, monetary hardship placing alternative charges out of attain, title modifications from divorce or remarriage, and clerical errors in state databases, according to a 2025 examine by the College of Maryland.
Solely 48% of Individuals have a legitimate passport as of 2023, in accordance with the State Division.
Some voting-rights advocates say a proof-of-citizenship requirement would hit aged, disabled and rural voters notably laborious.
“I’ve been by means of SCUD missiles, riots, sniper hearth. To be unable to maintain it collectively navigating all these processes makes me ashamed to say, however it might be actually troublesome,” mentioned Symmone Ford of Michigan, a 56-year-old Gulf Warfare veteran with extreme PTSD who has issue leaving her house.
“I can’t afford the cash for a lawyer to vary my title. I barely have sufficient to pay my payments,” mentioned Ford, whose final title doesn’t at the moment match her beginning certificates due to a number of marriages and divorces.
Voters wait in line to forged their poll at a polling station on Oct. 29, 2026, in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs
Further paperwork necessities for voter registration may successfully shut down on-line entry, some specialists mentioned. Even when people do have proper documentation, many could lack entry to copiers, notaries and scanners to submit electronically.
9 states at the moment have legal guidelines requiring state officers to confirm a voter’s citizenship standing both by taking a look at documentary proof at time of registration, reviewing voter registration historical past, or cross-checking with different authorities databases, according to the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures.
Federal legislation requires voters in all states to attest with a signature — underneath risk of imprisonment — that they’re, in actual fact, U.S. residents after they join a poll.
Nonetheless, 83% of Individuals, according to Gallup, say individuals registering to vote for the primary time ought to have to offer documentation to indicate that they’re eligible residents.
Efforts by Trump and his Republican allies to institute a nationwide proof-of-citizenship customary stalled in Congress earlier this 12 months and later acquired blocked by federal courts when he tried to impose it by government order.
Former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (left), the brand new Chairman of the Michigan Republican Social gathering, watches voting outcomes being posted on the MI GOP State Conference on March 2, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Invoice Pugliano/Getty Photographs
A web-based tracker of main public claims of noncitizen voting compiled by the nonpartisan Heart for Election Innovation and Analysis reveals instances of noncitizen voting are extraordinarily uncommon.
In Michigan, for instance, the state legal professional common recognized 38 credible instances of noncitizen voting within the 2024 common election out of roughly 5.7 million votes forged. That is 0.0000066% of complete votes forged.
Six of the Michigan instances have resulted in felony expenses, whereas 10 have been closed with out expenses and 22 are nonetheless underneath assessment, in accordance with state officers.
Eighteen states didn’t publicly disclose discovering or eradicating any noncitizen from a voter registration checklist within the 2024 election, and no state uncovered any coordinated effort to get noncitizens to vote, in accordance with CEIR information.
President Trump and the Division of Justice proceed to push unsubstantiated claims of widespread noncitizen voting as the idea for tighter voter registration guidelines and ballot segregation in a number of states, together with California and Washington.
The U.S. Supreme Court docket has previously struck down efforts so as to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to federal voter registration types. Later this 12 months, in a serious case from Arizona, the justices will resolve whether or not states can mandate proof-of-citizenship on state types and for voting in state races.
