Voters in Six States to Decide Citizenship Amendments on Nov. 3, With Rights Groups Warning Millions Could Be Sidelined

Voters in six states will decide on Nov. 3 whether to approve ballot measures that would amend their state constitutions or state law to make U.S. citizenship a requirement for voting. Civil rights groups warn that millions of Americans could be sidelined by the measures.

The closely watched referenda reflect a push by President Donald Trump to crack down on noncitizen voting based on unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.

Voting-rights advocates warn that the amendments also raise the potential of sidelining eligible American voters. Rashane Hamby of the ACLU of Kansas said in testimony last year that, rather than strengthening democracy, the amendments are a political maneuver designed to justify future rollbacks of voting rights.

Federal and state laws already prohibit noncitizens from voting in any federal or statewide election, but advocates for the constitutional amendments say even more protection is needed. West Virginia state Sen. Patricia Rucker, a Republican, said at a press conference last month that law can change, and that the proposed amendment would ensure no future legislature could simply change the election law with only a bill.

No state constitution currently includes a citizenship requirement for voting. Five states — Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia — have amendments on the ballot. An Alaska initiative would create a new state law.

Of particular concern to some supporters are major cities in three states plus the District of Columbia that allow some noncitizens to lawfully participate in local elections. Arkansas state Rep. David Ray said at a news conference last month that there is nothing that magically stops those ideas at a state's borders.

Many civil rights groups and nonpartisan voter advocates fear the measures, and accompanying regulations requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, could disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans.

An estimated 21.3 million Americans, or 9% of all eligible voters, are unable to readily present documentation proving they are citizens, according to a 2025 study by the University of Maryland. The reasons include misplaced or inaccessible records, financial hardship putting replacement fees out of reach, name changes from divorce or remarriage, and clerical errors in state databases. Only 48% of Americans had a valid passport as of 2023, according to the State Department.

Jemmie Lolita Pepper of Indiana, a former public-school educator who was born on U.S. soil but spent decades unable to prove it, says she empathizes with both sides. Pepper, 63, said in an interview that she understands and supports the desire to require proof so there will be no voter fraud, but that those who lived years without any documentation could not prove it — and neither could she. With pro bono legal help, she recently untangled a series of clerical errors in state records, including a misspelling of her first name and a faulty substitution of her last name, which had prevented her from obtaining an official government ID and casting a ballot. She now has one.

Some voting-rights advocates say a proof-of-citizenship requirement would hit elderly, disabled and rural voters particularly hard. Symmone Ford of Michigan, a 56-year-old Gulf War veteran with severe PTSD who has difficulty leaving her home, said navigating these processes would be really difficult for her. Her last name does not currently match her birth certificate because of several marriages and divorces, and she said she cannot afford the money for a lawyer to change her name.

Nine states currently have laws requiring state officials to verify a voter's citizenship status, either by looking at documentary proof at the time of registration, reviewing voter registration history, or cross-checking with other government databases, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Federal law requires voters in all states to attest with a signature, under threat of imprisonment, that they are U.S. citizens when they sign up for a ballot.

Still, 83% of Americans say people registering to vote for the first time should have to provide documentation showing they are eligible citizens, according to Gallup. Efforts by Trump and his Republican allies to institute a nationwide proof-of-citizenship standard stalled in Congress earlier this year and were later blocked by federal courts when he attempted to impose it by executive order.

An online tracker of major public claims of noncitizen voting compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research shows cases of noncitizen voting are extremely rare. In Michigan, the state attorney general identified 38 credible cases of noncitizen voting in the 2024 general election out of roughly 5.7 million votes cast — 0.0000066% of total votes cast. Six of the Michigan cases have resulted in criminal charges, while 10 were closed without charges and 22 are still under review, according to state officials.

Eighteen states did not publicly disclose finding or removing any noncitizen from a voter registration list in the 2024 election, and no state uncovered any coordinated effort to get noncitizens to vote, according to CEIR records. President Trump and the Department of Justice continue to push unsubstantiated claims of widespread noncitizen voting as the basis for tighter voter registration rules and ballot segregation in several states, including California and Washington.

The U.S. Supreme Court has previously struck down efforts to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to federal voter registration forms. Later this year, in a major case from Arizona, the justices will decide whether states can mandate proof of citizenship on state forms and for voting in state races.