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State Constitution
The Oklahoma Constitution states: “Article 3 § 1. Qualifications of electors.
Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, all 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.”
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.