Polls have indicated that a significant majority of Americans are against the idea of granting voting rights to non-U.S. citizens in elections. Voters demonstrated their support for that sentiment on Election Day.
Citizen-only voting initiatives were on the ballots in eight states on November 5th. In each state, these initiatives were passed with significant support from voters.
In Santa Ana, California, a proposal to allow non-citizens to vote in citywide elections was decisively rejected.
“According to Paul Jacob, a board member at Americans for Citizen Voting, voters in eight states have unequivocally expressed their stance on the issue: only citizens should have the right to vote. He further emphasized that this sentiment was reflected in the overwhelming support for every ballot measure related to this topic.”
According to a previous report by The Center Square, the majority of voters in Iowa (76%), Idaho (65%), Kentucky (62%), Missouri (68%), North Carolina (77.6%), Oklahoma (81%), South Carolina (86%), and Wisconsin (70%) believe that noncitizens should not have the right to vote.
In Santa Ana, California, the majority of voters, 62.5%, opposed Measure DD, which aimed to enable the city to implement an ordinance permitting noncitizens to participate in local elections.
Before the 2024 general election, Americans for Citizen Voting (ACV) stated that 12 states had existing citizen-only voting laws. These states include Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Minnesota, North Dakota, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Louisiana.
In Arizona, North Dakota, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Louisiana, the implementation of citizen-only voting was achieved through the introduction of a Citizen Only Voting Amendment (COVA).
Foreign nationals are permitted to vote in local elections in California, Illinois, Maryland, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. Moreover, there are at least 19 municipalities within these states that extend voting rights to noncitizens in local elections.
According to Jacob, Tuesday’s ballot measures could have had an impact on crucial swing states like North Carolina and Wisconsin, both of which were won by President-elect Donald Trump. Trump’s focus on the border crisis was a central part of his campaign, with promises to extend the construction of the border wall initiated during his first term and initiate mass deportations of violent criminal immigrants. Since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris assumed office, there have been at least 14 million recorded instances of illegal border crossings, as reported by The Center Square.
Jacob proudly shared the impressive voting results in North Carolina and Wisconsin, where their organization, Americans for Citizen Voting, won with 78% and 70% of the vote, respectively. He emphasized that their efforts to promote fair and accessible voting will persist.
“In 2026, we need to be cautious,” he warned. “There are individuals in several more states who are eager to implement similar measures and ensure that only citizens have the right to vote in their state and local elections.”