Only citizens can vote on a constitutional amendment in NC

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Voters can head to the polls to cast their ballot starting Thursday when early voting begins. They will also have a question to vote on.

North Carolina's ballot referendum will feature a citizen-only constitutional amendment making it clear that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and federal elections.

But political science experts say this is already the case in North Carolina.

“It’s like a constitutional amendment declaring the sky is blue,” said Steven Greene, a political science professor at North Carolina State University. “We have already taken many measures to ensure that only citizens vote in North Carolina.”

Both the House and Senate passed the proposal to go on the ballot back in June. Lawmakers say the bill changes the wording of the law to make it clearer.

“It has nothing to do with enforcing whether non-citizens actually somehow successfully vote,” said Sen. Buck Newton (R), who voted for the amendment back in June. “This simply ensures that only citizens are legally allowed to vote.”

Advocacy groups in North Carolina, such as the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, said the change could sow doubt among voters.

“It's an amendment that seeks a problem that doesn't exist,” President Jennifer McMillan Rubin said.

Experts believe the push to change the language may be because other places in the U.S. have allowed non-citizens to vote in some local elections.

“I haven’t heard of any place in North Carolina trying to do this, but putting this on the ballot would eliminate that possibility,” Greene said.

Since 2015, there have only been eight non-citizen election cases referred to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

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