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Americans for Citizen Voting

OnlyCitizens.vote

Oklahoma

WE WON!!

Type Title Description Result Yes Votes No Votes
LRCA State Question 834 Prohibit the state and local governments from allowing noncitizens to vote
Approved
1,207,520 (81%)
288,267 (19%)

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Oklahoma State Director:
Paul Abner

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Read here an Assessment on Non-Citizen Voting in Oklahoma by our Director of Research

State Constitution

Article III, Section 1 of the Oklahoma Constitution states:

“Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, only citizens of the United States, over the age of eighteen (18) years, who are bona fide residents of this state, are qualified electors of this state.”

Proposed ballot language:

“THE GIST OF THE PROPOSITION IS AS FOLLOWS:

This measure amends Section 1 of Article 3 of the Oklahoma Constitution. It clarifies that only citizens of the United States are qualified to vote in this state.

SHALL THE PROPOSAL BE APPROVED?”

Polling

View the May 2024 Oklahoma state poll 

Legislative Watch

SJR23: Constitutional amendment; clarifying citizenship requirement for qualified electors.

Chamber Vote Date Yea Nay NV Abs Total Result Source View
House House: ADVANCE FROM GENERAL ORDER 2024-05-30 71 11 0 19 101 Passed Link View
Senate Senate: THIRD READING 2024-05-30 37 7 0 4 48 Passed Link View

According to Center for Election Confidence Memo Oklahoma Citizenship Amendment (Feb. 28, 2024):
— “The Oklahoma Election Code does not contain any requirement that voters be citizens.”
— “The lack of clarity in the Oklahoma Constitution creates potential loopholes that courts, municipalities, and future legislatures – and left-wing advocates – might seek to exploit by adding to the categories of persons who are qualified to vote. For this reason, it is important for constitutional provisions to be clear . . . While the obvious method of permitting noncitizens to vote would be a legislative action, the existence of charter cities in Oklahoma adds a concerning potential avenue for allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.
— “In fact, some legal scholars have posited that noncitizen voting is a likely outcome in home-rule cities in Oklahoma.”
— “Oklahoma, Idaho, and Vermont fall into the second, permissive qualification, category. The Oklahoma Constitution lists citizenship as one of the permissive qualifications necessary to vote.”
[Note: Non-citizens are today LEGALLY voting in Vermont. Idaho’s Legislature has placed a Citizen Only Voting Amendment on the November 5 ballot.]

According to University of Kentucky Law Professor Joshua Douglas in The Right to Vote Under Local Law
— There is no clear impediment for a municipality to extend the right to vote to non-citizens

According to Americans for Citizen Voting Research Director in Assessment of Non-Citizen Voting Laws in Oklahoma
–There is nothing in either the constitution or the state statute that limits the right to vote to only United States citizens.

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