Ohio Republicans propose constitutional amendment to affirm that noncitizens can't vote

Ohio Republicans are pushing a constitutional amendment to prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting in local elections. 

The resolution aims to place the proposed amendment before Ohio voters on the November ballot. The Legislature must pass the measure with a 3/5 majority and send it to the secretary of state's office by Aug. 8 to make the Nov. 8 election.

The proposal is a reaction to a New York policy that will allow roughly 800,000 noncitizens to vote for mayor, City Council and other local races – something Republican lawmakers don't want to see in Ohio. It also comes as GOP candidates hammer President Joe Biden's immigration policy ahead of a midterm election that will likely generate significant turnout among Republicans.

It's already illegal for noncitizens to vote in state and federal elections.

"It absolutely is a preventative measure," state Sen. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, said. "I'm sure there are a lot of people in New York that would’ve never envisioned this happening, and here we are."

The Ohio Municipal League is not aware of any municipalities that are currently considering a measure similar to New York's, executive director Kent Scarrett said. 

Is the resolution necessary?

The constitution stipulates that Ohio voters must be U.S. citizens who have been registered in the state for at least 30 days. However, it also grants "home rule" powers to municipalities that Republicans say could allow them to enact such a policy. 

An attorney for the Legislative Service Commission echoed that interpretation in a December memo to Blessing, obtained by USA TODAY Network Ohio. According to the memo, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 1917 that municipalities could allow women to vote in local elections, even though they weren't legally allowed to vote in most elections at the time.

Still, critics of the resolution contend it's unnecessary in a state that requires people who register to vote to be U.S. citizens. Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLU of Ohio, cast it as a political maneuver that fuels "fanatical xenophobia" among those who claim immigration is driving an effort to replace white Americans.

"Efforts such as these also promote the thoroughly discredited notion that elections in Ohio and other states are faulty, compromised, or even illegitimate, because of deliberate misinformation spread by partisan and ideological operatives," Daniels said in a statement.

The issue has cropped up in Ohio once before. Yellow Springs attempted in 2020 to allow noncitizens to cast ballots for village elections, according to the Springfield News-Sun, but Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered officials to table the measure because it violated the state constitution.

LaRose supports the resolution.

"American elections are only for American citizens, and the cities in other states that have granted non-citizens the right to vote in local elections are undermining the value of what it means to be an American," he said in a statement.

Lawmakers are expected to hold a first committee hearing for the proposal on Wednesday.

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.