Citizenship Referendum in Play

This post originally appeared at https://wifamilycouncil.org/radio/citizenship-referendum-in-play/

2024 | Week of September 30 | Radio Transcript #1586

Did you know there is an important statewide binding referendum on Wisconsin’s ballot this November? A pertinent lawsuit makes the referendum all the more relevant.

On every Wisconsin ballot this fall is a proposed constitutional amendment known as the Wisconsin Citizenship Voting Requirement Amendment. If this referendum passes, non-citizens would be prohibited from voting in state and local elections in Wisconsin. Illegal immigrants are prohibited from voting in federal elections, but Wisconsin law does not explicitly prohibit noncitizens from voting in state or local office elections.

A “yes” vote would amend our Wisconsin Constitution by adding language that says only U.S. citizens who are 18 years old or older can vote in federal, state, local, or school elections. A “no” vote opposes adding this language to the Wisconsin Constitution.

While seemingly a straightforward proposal, some media outlets are casting doubt on the proposal’s effect. An article in Wisconsin Watch, for example, says the amendment would “have little practical effect on who can vote under existing laws.”[1] Outright opponents to the measure claim voter protections would be weakened and that, if approved by voters, the amendment could be legally challenged and potentially be tied up several years in court. Proponents, however, say the measure is necessary to ensure that officials do not intentionally open the door to noncitizen voting in state and local elections in our state in the future.

A valid question is whether non-citizen voting really a problem in Wisconsin? Is this proposed constitutional amendment even necessary?

We answer that question in part this way. While you may not have heard of it yet, a lawsuit has been filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission for “failing to verify the citizenship of voter registration applicants.” As reported by journalist M.D. Kittle in The Federalist, a Pewaukee resident and election integrity activist filed a lawsuit in Waukesha County Circuit Court asserting that the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation are failing to actually verify the citizenship of individuals who are registering to vote.[2]

A crucial step in this verification process is for the Department of Transportation to match the registrant’s information against the individual’s details in the state voter registration database, otherwise known as the “WisVote” list. According to the lawsuit, this verification is not actually happening.

The lawsuit got the attention of Wisconsin’s legislators. Soon after the lawsuit was filed, Wisconsin lawmakers requested that the Department of Transportation turn over its records on, quote, “the tens of thousands of foreign nationals holding driver’s licenses and state-issued ID cards—records that would help check the possibility of noncitizens voting in Wisconsin elections.”[3]

And Wisconsin lawmakers and the plaintiff in the lawsuit are not the only ones concerned about illegal voting this November. According to the Daily Signal, experts are predicting that somewhere between 1.5 and 2.7 million votes will be cast nationally in this election by illegal immigrants.  Some portion of those votes will be cast in Wisconsin.

In addition, a recent study found that somewhere between 10 and 27% of noncitizen adults are illegally registered to vote in the United States. This study from Just Facts included “a national survey in which 14.8% of non-citizens admitted that they were registered to vote” and information from a voter registration database that found that a portion of surveyed noncitizens were registered to vote even though they claimed “not to be registered.”[4]

Soberingly, on Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard, battleground Wisconsin got zero points for citizenship verification.[5]

This brings us back to the proposed constitutional amendment in Wisconsin.  Proponents of the amendment argue that Wisconsin’s state and local elections need stronger safeguards, especially in light of the recent data regarding estimated noncitizen voting, particularly amid the present border crisis.

Now you know about this referendum on all our ballots this fall. We encourage you to share this information with your friends, family, and neighbors as they, too, prepare to cast a ballot this election season. Our civic duty includes the responsibility of not only voting, but casting informed votes—including on an important election integrity referendum.

For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling, reminding you that God, through the Prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

[1]https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/09/wisconsin-election-ballot-noncitizen-voting-constitutional-amendment/

[2]https://thefederalist.com/2024/09/04/lawsuit-wisconsin-agencies-fail-to-use-tools-to-keep-noncitizens-off-voter-rolls/

[3]https://thefederalist.com/2024/09/05/wisconsin-lawmakers-request-records-to-help-curb-threat-of-noncitizen-voting/

[4]https://www.justfacts.com/news_non-citizen_voter_registration

[5]https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/09/24/how-noncitizen-voting-could-affect-these-7-battleground-states/