A national group has set its sights on making sure Texas is the next to join the growing ranks of states to ensure only United States citizens can vote in its elections.
Charlie Kolean is the Texas state director for Americans for Citizen Voting.
“Americans for Citizen Voting supports clear constitutional provisions that ensure citizen only voting,” Kolean said. “Twenty states already have similar constitutional provisions, and at least 11 states are actively considering legislation.”
Kolean
| File photo
“Here in Texas, we are solely focused on passing a resolution to ensure only United States citizens can vote. Senator Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) is the sponsor of the Senate joint resolution, and we’re at the point right now where all we are waiting on is for it to be filed.”
If passed, Birdwell’s SJR 37 would put the issue before voters to amend the state constitution. SJR 37 was introduced in January, and the companion House Joint Resolution 161 was introduced March 3.
SJR 37 was read for the first time on February 7 and referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee.
The proposal would amend the state Constitution to add that persons who are not citizens of the United States shall not be allowed to vote in the state. It would be the fourth classification of people not allowed to vote. The other three are persons under 18 years of age, persons who have been determined mentally incompetent by a court and persons convicted of any felony.
If passed, the amendment would be placed before voters for the November 4, 2025, election. The ballot would be printed to permit voting for against the proposition that would say, “The constitutional amendment clarifying that a voter must be a United States citizen.”
During the last legislative session, a similar resolution made it through the Senate’s State Affairs Committee and the full Senate, but it didn’t make it out of the House of Representatives. That resolution had 88 mostly Republican votes, so a few House Democrats would need to agree to get the resolution across the finish line this session.
“We’ve made some substantial progress in working with Democrats,” Kolean said. “We need a dozen or so Democrats to make this work.”
In January, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick included a similar bill on his list of top 40 priority bills for the 89th legislative session. The difference between Birdwell’s Senate resolution and Patrick’s Senate Bill 16 is that the resolution would amend the state Constitution rather than just codify the mandate into law. Another legislative session down the road could pass another bill to change state code again. Changing the state Constitution gives the measure a few more levels of protection from that.
While non-Americans can’t vote in state or federal elections in Texas, the idea that non-citizens could vote in local and municipal elections is what Kolean’s group hopes to prevent.
A 2023 survey showed that 82 percent of Texans favored a policy of only citizens voting. Among naturalized citizens, 81 percent favored the policy.
In recent years, Americans for Citizen Voting has worked to have similar measures adopted in states. Last November, eight states passed laws to keep non-citizens from voting. Neighboring Louisiana and Oklahoma already have passed such laws.
Currently, 20 state have laws to make sure only American citizens can vote in that state, and 11 other states – including Texas and neighboring Arkansas – are actively considering such legislation.
Last summer, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill requiring U.S. residents to show proof of citizenship to vote, but the Senate has not taken the bill up yet.