Voters across the Carolinas could make an election-related change to their state's constitution. But is it unnecessary?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Voters in North and South Carolina will approve a constitutional amendment granting civil suffrage in the November election.

Voters' decision on the amendment may seem unusual to those who may be unaware of the discussion surrounding it.

The measure requires voters to vote “for” or “against” a measure that would only allow citizens over the age of 18 to vote. While most of the measure is already in effect, the wording is different: “Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized” has been changed to “citizen.”

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Some say the change is unnecessary and serves political purposes, but advocates in both parties say it is anything but.

“This change, as worded, raises doubts,” said Jennifer Roberts, former Charlotte mayor and current co-head of the Commission on the Future of North Carolina Elections.

“You have to be fair,” said North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican who sponsored the legislation and is currently running for Congress. “They must be free of fraud and only U.S. citizens may vote on them.”

The measure passed in July and was put to voters for a vote.

“The way our Constitution was written, there were those who said that, again, it was people on the left who were making noise about trying to give non-citizens the right to vote,” Moore said . “And we said, why don’t we just make that clear?”

“If you ask a lawyer, you know, when you say 'citizens,' does that include those who were born in the United States and, shall we say, legally naturalized?” Yes,” Roberts said. “But the question becomes, could a future court interpret this differently?”

Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, said the political climate produced this change in the Carolinas and several other states.

“It actually reminds me of a constitutional amendment from a few years ago,” Cooper said. “We had voted in the North Carolina Senate on the constitutional right to hunt and fish. And the people who were very against it said again, 'Well, this is a solution in search of a problem.' So we don't have to screw up the work.”

Advocates have made claims about other states' actions and claims of widespread non-citizen voting – for which there is a lack of evidence, according to a recent fact check by Queen City News sister network NewsNation.

NewsNation cited statistics from 2016 showing that only 41 of North Carolina's 4.8 million votes came from non-citizens.

Non-citizen participation in elections is generally extremely rare, as it is considered a federal crime.

“I've talked to people in the Latino community and they feel strongly that if this goes through, naturalized citizens won't be able to vote,” Roberts said. “You really absolutely believe that.”

“Citizens include those who were born here and those who have been naturalized through the appropriate process,” Moore said. Citizens do not include those who are here illegally.”

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