(The Center Square) – Wisconsin voters approved a state constitution change requiring someone to be a citizen to vote in elections.
The ballot measure had 75% approval with more than 95% of the statewide voted tallied.
Currently, the Wisconsin constitution states that “Every United States citizen age 18 or older who is a resident of an election district” is a qualified voter; the ballot proposal would replace the phrase “every United States citizen” with “only a United States citizen.”
The ballot measure comes as leaders across the state called for a process for the state to check its voter rolls for noncitizens and remove them, ensuring election integrity in the state.
Currently, election commissions cannot check their rolls with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to ensure an estimated 90,000 individuals who are currently legally in the state, who can get a drivers license, do not register to vote.
Several voting groups across the state spoke out against the ballot measure, including the League of Women Voters.
“The change from ‘every’ to ‘only’ is a downgrade to all of our voting rights,” the group said. “The language changes our constitutionally protected voting rights from a guarantee for all citizens to a limitation that could be used to erode our voting rights.”
