Polling has shown that a large majority of Americans oppose allowing non-U.S. citizens to vote in elections.
On Election Day, voters backed up that sentiment.
Eight states had citizen-only voting initiatives on their ballots Nov. 5. These initiatives passed by wide margins in each state.
Separately, a measure in Santa Ana, California, that would have opened the door for non-citizens to vote in citywide elections was soundly defeated.
“Voters in eight states sent a very clear and unmistakable message: Only citizens should vote,” Paul Jacob, a board member at Americans for Citizen Voting, said. “Every ballot measure passed by whopping margins.”
In Iowa, 76% of voters said noncitizens should not be able to vote. In Idaho, 65% did. The same is true in Kentucky (62%), Missouri (68%), North Carolina (77.6%), Oklahoma (81%), South Carolina (86%) and Wisconsin (70%), as The Center Square previously reported.
In Santa Ana, California, voters rejected Measure DD with 62.5% of voters opposing the initiative that would have allowed the city to adopt an ordinance allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.
According to Americans for Citizen Voting (ACV), prior to the 2024 general election, 12 states had citizen-only voting laws on the books: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Minnesota, North Dakota, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Louisiana.
In the cases of Arizona, North Dakota, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Louisiana, citizen-only voting was put in place through a Citizen Only Voting Amendment (COVA).
California, Illinois, Maryland, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. allow foreign nationals to vote in local elections. At least 19 municipalities in these states allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
Jacob said Tuesday’s ballot measures could have made a difference in critical swing states North Carolina and Wisconsin, which President-elect Donald Trump won. Trump made the border crisis a key component of his campaign. Trump has vowed to continue building the border wall he began in his first term and said he would mass deport violent criminal foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally. At least 14 million illegal border crossings have been recorded since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office, The Center Square reported.
“We won with 78 percent of the vote in North Carolina and 70 percent in Wisconsin,” Jacob said of two key swing states, adding that Americans for Citizen Voting’s efforts will continue.
“Watch out in 2026,” he said. “We have people in another dozen states already anxious to pass these measures and clarify that only citizens can vote in their state and local elections.”
