Amendment 1 gives voters the choice to amend the Kentucky Constitution to prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting in elections.
Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, including November’s. At the state level, the Kentucky Constitution only lists “citizens” as persons entitled to vote. Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams says election officials have not seen any evidence that noncitizens are voting.
“There is a federal statute that was enacted in 1996 that says that only U.S. citizens can vote in a federal election,” Adams said. “The election that we are having right now is a federal election and the next election we will have in 2026 will be a federal election, so I just want to note that there is not an issue of noncitizens voting in these elections.”
If Amendment 1 passes, it would add language to ban noncitizens from voting. Kentucky voters will not be alone in weighing in on voting rights in the coming weeks, several other states will have similar measures appear on ballots this election cycle, including: Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
Proponents of the measure say it's a common-sense fix to the state constitution.
“With all the things going on at the Southern border, illegal immigration is a concern amongst many of our constituents throughout the state and that has brought that issue to the forefront,” said GOP Rep. Michael Meredith of Oakland, who co-sponsored the legislation to go before voters on Nov. 5.
Section 145 of the Kentucky Constitution currently says that “Every citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years who has resided in the state one year, and in the county six months, and the precinct in which he offers to vote sixty days next preceding the election, shall be a voter in said precinct.”
It also says anyone with a felony conviction deemed mentally unfit or imprisoned cannot vote.
Proponents of the amendment say it needs to be more explicit that noncitizens are prohibited from voting.
Opponents say the measure is a non-issue and election resources would be better served elsewhere.
Attica Scott is the director of Forward Justice Action Network, a nonprofit that focuses on racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South and a former state representative of District 41 in Louisville. She said the ballot measure is a political strategy to target immigrants who have full citizenship and keep them from voting.
“It’s clear when our own secretary of state has said there have not been incidents of people who are not eligible to vote, trying to vote in our elections,” Scott said. “Why in the world would you have this on our ballots?”
Why is it on the ballot?
Experts say the idea that undocumented immigrants are affecting federal elections has been around for more than a century, but has become popular this election cycle with Republican leaders across the country.
Non-citizens who register to vote in federal elections can face up to five years in prison just by attempting to register, so experts say the likelihood of an undocumented person living in the U.S. risking deportation or prison time just to vote in an election is highly unlikely, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Also, by registering and casting a vote illegally, an undocumented person would be creating a government record of a crime, and in doing so would be making it easier to get caught.
As a result, several studies have found it almost never happens. Conversely, adding more requirements to weed out potential fraud can have the effect of making it more difficult for citizens to access voting.According to Secretary of State Adams, this false narrative has been perpetuated by policymakers in other states and media groups could be to blame. “I think people see things on the news in other states and they have questions and that’s their business if they wish, but those things aren’t happening here,” Adams said.
Kentucky’s ballot measure came after Rep. Michael Meredith and Republican Sen. Jason Howell of Murray sponsored measures during the 2024 legislative session.
Meredith cited municipalities in California, Maryland, Vermont and Washington D.C. that have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections, as examples of what could happen.
“This is really a common sense fix to an issue that might never become an issue, but it's a lot easier to handle these things in a proactive manner than to react to them if they do,” Meredith said.
Meredith said that to his knowledge there have been no instances of noncitizens voting in elections in Kentucky, but he’d prefer to leave it to voters to decide rather than risk litigation if a municipality were to act to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
“If a noncitizen went to vote under any law that I know of at the local or state level currently,” Meredith said. “However, what happens when one of these municipalities does try that? It’s going to end up in court and this is going to be litigated out. So we give the citizens of Kentucky an opportunity to make a decision on this.”
Reuters reports at least 18 U.S. localities allow legal noncitizens to vote exclusively in some local elections, but none of them are in Kentucky.
Safeguards against illegal voting:
Before anyone can cast a ballot they must first register to vote which requires individuals to be at least 18 years old by the General Election, must reside in Kentucky, must not have a felon conviction on their record and must not be registered to vote in any other state. Once voters have registered they still need to provide photo-identification in the form of a Kentucky drivers license, military or state ID, a passport, or other combination of documentation.
Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said there are standards in place to prevent noncitizens from casting a ballot.
“We have undertaken common sense election integrity measures to make sure that we have clean elections,” Adams said. “One of those is the first thing we implemented when I got into office in 2020 which was photo-ID to vote."
Secretary Adams continued to explain that he’s not seen any indication that illegal voting has happened on his watch.
“It’s a practical impossibility for a noncitizen to vote in a Kentucky election because we require ID,” Adams said. “I’ve just seen no evidence now, in the four-and-a-half years as Secretary of State, of any noncitizen voting in our elections and I have no reason to believe that's going to happen in this election.”
Kentucky also updates its voter rolls to maintain current records of anyone who has died, registered to vote or moved out of state, or been convicted to a felony.
Secretary Adams said one of his chief concerns is voter turnout, not voter fraud.
“The notion of people coming to our polls and voting illegally is about the least of our problems,” Adams said. “Right now our biggest trouble is getting people who are able legally to vote to actually vote.”
Attica Scott said Amendment 1 would clarify the constitution, but questioned at what cost.
“I think it's important for people to remember that Kentucky is better than this,” Scott said. “We should be building the beloved community and as a commonwealth we should be looking out for our neighbors who are immigrants and refugees just as we do it for ourselves and our families.”
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