AUSTIN - Americans for Citizen Voting sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday, urging him to support an amendment to the Texas Constitution clarifying that a voter in Texas state elections must be a U.S. citizen.
More than a dozen states and municipalities already allow non-citizen voting in local elections.
During the past Texas legislative session, Senate Joint Resolution 35 was introduced, which proposed a constitutional amendment clarifying that voters must be U.S. citizens. The measure passed the Senate 29-1, but was blocked in the House when 54 Democrats voted "present."
Supporters of the measure hope Abbott will add a similar amendment to a special session call this year.
Americans for Citizen Voting (ACV) released a poll earlier this year showing that 82 percent of Texans support citizen only voting.
In the letter to Abbott, ACV asserts the amendment is needed because Article VI, Sections 1-2 of the Texas Constitution do not clearly prohibit noncitizens from voting.
“Specifically, Article VI provides that one who is a United States citizen is qualified to vote but does not state that noncitizens are prohibited from voting,” the letter states. “Although the Texas Election Code currently expressly prohibits noncitizens from voting, it could be amended relatively easily by a future legislature to permit noncitizen voting.
“Given the importance of this issue and the fact that the Attorney General cannot prosecute Election Code violations himself, Americans for Citizen Voting respectfully requests that you support legislation to amend the Texas Constitution to clarify that noncitizens cannot vote in any Texas elections.”
Last October, the D.C. Council voted to allow non-citizen residents the right to vote in local elections.
On Feb. 9, the House passed HJR 24, disapproving the action of the D.C. Council in approving the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022. A total of 260 representatives voted in favor of the resolution, including 42 Democrats, several of which call Texas home.