Constitutional amendment would ban non-citizen voting nationwide

What it does

This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment that would explicitly prohibit non-citizens from voting in any U.S. election—federal, state, or local—and on ballot initiatives or referendums. It grants Congress enforcement power. The amendment requires ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures within seven years to take effect.

Why we flagged it

This is a straightforward constitutional amendment proposal with no hidden mechanisms or riders. It states its single operative purpose plainly: to add an explicit constitutional prohibition on non-citizen voting. The mechanism is transparent and the scope is clear.

What the text implies

• Amendment would preempt state and local experimentation with non-citizen voting in municipal elections (e.g., school board, local referendum participation), which some jurisdictions have adopted to include long-term residents in decisions affecting them.
• Ratification would require three-fourths of state legislatures, a very high bar; failure to ratify leaves the status quo (federal prohibition + state-by-state variation) in place.

The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.

Who it affects

The amendment codifies an existing de facto rule (non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections; most states already prohibit state/local non-citizen voting) and closes potential state-level gaps, which protects electoral integrity. However, it also forecloses any future state experimentation with limited non-citizen voting in local elections (a practice some municipalities have adopted for school boards or municipal referenda), and it does so at the constitutional level—the highest bar to rever