Missouri Judge Upholds Language for Noncitizen Voting Ballot Initiative
A Missouri judge ruled on Monday that the ballot summary language for a proposed constitutional amendment to ban noncitizens from voting is fair and accurate.
The ruling comes from a legal challenge from two Missouri voters, who sued Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) and the state’s Republican-led legislative leaders over the language for the proposed constitutional amendment that will appear on November’s ballot.
At the heart of the lawsuit was a dispute over the language used for the 50-word summary of the proposed amendment, as it is set to appear on the ballot. Because it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Missouri, the plaintiffs argued that the ballot language is misleading, as it omits that fact.
Missouri state law requires anyone registering to vote in the state to verify they’re a U.S. citizen, and Missouri’s Constitution has banned noncitizens from voting since at least 1924. But the state’s GOP-led lawmakers didn’t think the language in the state’s Constitution was strong enough and, on the last day of the 2024 legislative session in late May, passed a proposal to amend the state’s Constitution to say that “only citizens” can vote instead of “all citizens,” according to the Missouri Independent.
The lawmakers also passed a proposal to amend the state’s Constitution to prohibit ranked-choice voting. State lawmakers previously tried, and failed, to ban ranked-choice voting in 2022.
The Missouri judge ruled that the ballot language on noncitizen voting can remain on the ballot because it “is not untrue or partial, and it does not use language that is intentionally argumentative or likely to create prejudice for the measure.” During the trial over the ballot language, the Missouri Independent reported the lawyers for the state defending the language “wouldn’t give a definitive answer on whether non-citizens can currently vote” and the judge said “the court doubts whether the defendants or their counsel actually believe that non-citizens are currently allowed to vote.”
Nevertheless, the proposed summary language, as it’s now set to appear on the ballot in November, asks voters if they want to: “Make the Constitution consistent with state law by only allowing citizens of the United States to vote; Prohibit the ranking of candidates by limiting voters to a single vote per candidate or issue; and Require the plurality winner of a political party primary to be the single candidate at a general election.”