Voters in West Virginia’s election will have a choice about an amendment that could change the wording in the state Constitution from saying “Citizens of the state shall be entitled to vote” to “only citizens of the state who are citizens of the United States are entitled to vote.”
The Secretary of State put out an informational video last week to help people understand. Bottom line: voting by noncitizens is already unlawful under state and federal statute, but this would place the restriction in the state Constitution.
“I get a lot of questions regarding this because when you see the text of the amendment, I don’t think that a lot of voters may understand what it actually does,” said David Cook, deputy Secretary of State and chief legal counsel for the Secretary of State’s office.
The wording of the proposed amendment is this:
Only citizens of the United States who are citizens of this state shall be entitled to vote at all elections held within the counties in which they respectively reside; but a person who is a minor, or who has been declared mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction, or who is under conviction of treason, felony or bribery in an election, or who has not been a resident of the state and of the county in which he or she offers to vote, for 30 days next preceding such offer, shall not be permitted to vote while such disability continues; and, a person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States shall not be deemed a resident of this state by reason of being stationed therein.
A “yes” vote supports amending the constitution. A “no” vote opposes the amendment and would be for keeping the language as “The citizens of the state shall be entitled to vote.”
Cook explained, “The only thing that changes is a qualification that you must be a United States citizen to to vote in an election in West Virginia. That’s the only substantial language that changes.”
He noted that the proposed amendment came about through a legislative resolution and the Secretary of State’s role is purely administrative.
The legislative intent, Cook said, “is that because the original language was vague as it relates to a citizen of West Virginia voting, there could be a legal loophole that would allow, for instance, municipalities to to change their requirements and allow non non citizens to vote.”
He continued, “So what this does is allows the voters to decide the qualifications for voting in West Virginia.”
Cook said the amendment would not change the existing qualifications to be a voter in West Virginia.
“There’s still residency requirement. There’s there’s still certain disqualifying factors such as being convicted of a felony or or being deemed incompetent by a a court of competent jurisdiction.
“What it does not require is that a voter who wants to register to vote to have to supply a birth certificate or some type of identifying document that they’re a U.S. citizen. The attestation requirement on your voter registration form is the same,” he said.
Cook said the amendment also would not affect the voting rights of West Virginians temporarily living or serving overseas: “That individual could still vote in West Virginia elections if someone temporarily is residing in another state or overseas for a job. They can still vote in West Virginia.”
The League of Women Voters of West Virginia has recommended no votes on the amendment, saying it is “unnecessary and serves dubious purposes.”
The League of Women Voters noted that non-citizens are already prohibited from voting under West Virginia and federal law. The statutory framework, along with other existing electoral safeguards, ensure that only eligible citizens vote in the elections, the organization wrote in its position statement.
Furthermore, the organization noted, to even register to vote in state and federal elections, a person must swear they are a citizen under penalty of criminal prosecution. Under federal law, a non-citizen could face up to five years in prison simply for registering to vote. It’s also a deportable offense for a non-citizen to register or vote.
“False and exaggerated claims about non-citizen voting are used to enact restrictive voting laws that make it harder for eligible citizens to vote,” wrote the League of Women Voters of West Virginia.
“As these falsehoods are repeated, they undermine trust in the electoral process, breed suspicion and animus toward immigrants, and sow division in our communities.”