Congress proposes constitutional amendment to ban non-citizen voting—already illegal.
S.J.Res. 212 — A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to ensure that only citizens are eligible to vote in Federal elections. · Filed by Eric Schmitt (R-MO) · Introduced Aug 7, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment stating that only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections (President, Vice President, Senate, House, and electors). It gives states the power to set voting rules, with Congress able to override or set rules for Washington, D.C. The amendment would need ratification by three-fourths of the states to take effect.
Why we flagged it
This is a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment, not legislation. It is a procedural instrument that, if passed by Congress and ratified by states, would amend the Constitution. The substance is a voting-eligibility restriction framed as a clarification of existing law.
What the text implies
- A constitutional amendment is extremely difficult to reverse; once ratified, it locks voting rules into the Constitution and removes them from ordinary legislative debate, potentially foreclosing future democratic choices about voting access.
- The amendment's framing as addressing non-citizen voting—which is already prohibited by federal law—may signal intent to use constitutional entrenchment as a tool to resist state-level voting-access expansions (e.g., same-day registration, mail voting) by establishing a constitutional baseline that could be invoked in litigation.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who it affects
The amendment codifies an existing legal requirement (citizenship for federal voting), providing constitutional protection against future legislative erosion. However, it is framed as addressing a non-existent problem—no state currently permits non-citizens to vote in federal elections—and the proposal may signal intent to restrict voting access more broadly or to challenge state-level voting rights expansions that do not involve non-citizens.