Citizens-only ballot measures make newly naturalized American voters feel on edge

After recently becoming U.S. citizens and registering to vote, Roselia Navarro of Wisconsin and Halley Ji-Zhang of North Carolina will be voting for the first time this November.

They will share other similarities: Each will be voting in a battleground state. They will also each come across state ballot measures seeking to reiterate that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections, even though it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in elections in these states as well as at the federal level — and illegal voting rarely happens.

Navarro and Ji-Zhang are among the more than 3.5 million citizens naturalized since 2020 who have become eligible to vote. They join more than 23 million naturalized citizens who were eligible voters in the last presidential election.

In the swing states where they reside, voters like Navarro and Ji-Zhang could be consequential. The number of immigrants eligible to become naturalized U.S. citizens, and therefore register to vote, has continued to grow in recent years, according to the American Immigration Council, a legal nonprofit advocating for immigrant rights.

Though overall turnout among naturalized voters has been lower than among U.S.-born voters, participation rates of naturalized Latino and Asian American voters have been higher than those who are U.S.-born, according to Pew Research.

“Now that I have my citizenship, I feel like I am more involved in the election because my opinion does matter now,” said Navarro, 32, who was naturalized in April 2023 after spending a year studying for the U.S. citizenship test.

Born in Mexico, Navarro said it makes her "very happy" to be the first in her family to vote in the U.S., the nation she has called home for nearly two decades and where she's currently raising two young daughters, who are also American citizens.

For Ji-Zhang, 22, a Chinese immigrant who got her U.S. citizenship last month, casting her ballot for the first time this November is particularly important. She described the powerlessness she felt in 2020 amid the rising tide of anti-Asian hate that surrounded the Covid-19 pandemic.

“When I naturalized, I checked the calendar to make sure I was doing it as early as possible, because I really didn’t want to risk missing this election,” she said. 

But what's supposed to be a significant milestone for Navarro and Ji-Zhang is being marred by concerns stemming from highly debated ballot measures seeking to amend voter-eligibility language, in the constitutions of both Wisconsin and North Carolina, to further clarify that noncitizens are ineligible to vote.

Changing voter-eligibility language

Even though the amendments would not change existing voting laws, proponents of the measures, mainly backed by Republican-controlled legislatures in both states, believe in more explicitly excluding noncitizens from the electoral process.

Opponents of the proposals, which include Democrats, view the amendments as redundant and unnecessary. Critics of the ballot measures worry about the potential chilling effect they could have on naturalized citizens who are, in fact, eligible to vote — arguing the proposal is designed to fuel false narratives about noncitizens voting in large numbers and undermining people’s confidence in the election.

In addition to electing the president and other government officials, Wisconsinites will be voting to change voter-eligibility language in their state constitution. The measure proposes substituting the term "every" with "only" in the constitution, which currently reads, "Every United States citizen age 18 or older who is a resident" is eligible to vote in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Republican state Sen. Julian Bradley, who worked to approve the proposal in the Legislature, has argued that if his state’s constitution is left unchanged, it would leave a door open for local governments there to potentially pass laws allowing noncitizens to vote in city and municipal elections in the future.

While no state constitution in the U.S. currently allows noncitizens to vote, certain cities and municipalities in three states, as well as Washington, D.C., have allowed noncitizens to vote in some local elections. None of these are located in Wisconsin or North Carolina.

A spokesperson for Bradley's office did not respond to a request for comment. But last month, in a news conference hosted by Americans for Citizen Voting, a nonprofit group spearheading legislative efforts in favor of the ballot measures, the senator said, "We want to make sure that only American citizens are voting."

A review from the nonpartisan State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School concluded that the Wisconsin ballot measure "will not have any immediate practical impact on voter eligibility," since existing law already prohibits noncitizen voting in federal and state elections.

Navarro said she found the question in the ballot measure to be misleading. “It makes me a little upset and very sad” at the prospect of having to even face that question at the ballot box as a first-time voter "who worked really hard to earn this right."

Nancy Flores, deputy director of the National Partnership for New Americans, said that "instead of being welcomed into the democratic process, you’re feeling like there is something wrong with participating if you’re not born in this country. That’s a really bad message to send to anybody."

Avi McCullah, president of Americans for Citizen Voting, has defended the proposals, saying they’re about safeguarding the right to vote and “not about being anti-citizen or anti-foreigners."

North Carolinians will also vote to implement similar changes to their state constitution.

Republican state Sen. Brad Overcash, who led the effort to include the measure in North Carolina, believes that amending voter-eligibility language in his state’s constitution is still the most effective way to ensure no future laws are ever passed allowing noncitizens to vote in municipal and local elections in North Carolina, according to a spokesperson from his office.

The North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has stated the “amendment is unnecessary and will not change the law,” adding that, “Naturalized citizens have the right to vote and, even if this constitutional amendment passes, will maintain the right to vote.”

The ACLU in North Carolina and 30 organizations in Wisconsin are urging voters to vote "no" on the measure as a way to "reject the fear-mongering and hateful rhetoric that gave rise to this ballot measure."

'Did not even cross my mind'

A study of the 2016 election conducted by the Brennan Center found that, of 23.5 million votes cast, election officials only found about 30 cases of potential noncitizen voting. Data from the public policy research organization Cato Institute and the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation also shows that the occurrence of noncitizens illegally voting in the U.S. has been negligible in subsequent elections.

Throughout the election cycle, Republican leaders across several states have suggested that issues of “rigged elections” and noncitizen voting are more common than they actually are as part of their larger political strategy to make election integrity a cornerstone of their messaging campaign.

One in 10 eligible voters in the U.S. are naturalized citizens, most of whom are Hispanic or Asian American, according to the Pew Research Center. They account for about 10% of the U.S. electorate. The top countries of origin for naturalized citizens in the U.S. are Mexico, India and China.

“The idea of casting a vote illegally did not even cross my mind,” Ji-Zhang said, who added that no immigrant would ever intentionally do anything to jeopardize their naturalization process.

For North Carolina resident Saiesh Srivastava, a 21-year-old Indian immigrant who naturalized in February of last year, being able to vote for the first time makes him feel part of "a large movement of people excited to go to the polls."

After engaging in activism, including participating in racial justice protests, but not being able to help decide an election in the country he's called home since he was a toddler, Srivastava said that voting for the first time feels like an important next step.