Idaho constitutional amendment to ban noncitizen voting passes

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Idaho voters approved a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution to ban noncitizens from voting in Idaho elections.

The Associated Press declared the amendment passed at 12:49 a.m. Wednesday.

Unofficial election results from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office at 2:07 a.m. Wednesday showed 64.8% of Idaho voters supported the constitutional amendment — proposed by the Idaho Legislature this year — with 496,229 votes, while 35.2% of voters opposed it, with 269,175 votes. Thirty-two of Idaho’s 44 counties were fully reporting election results by then.

The Idaho Constitution already required U.S. citizenship for people to be considered qualified electors, referring to eligible voters. But proponents of the amendment noted that the Idaho Constitution doesn’t specifically exclude noncitizens.

Similar to ballot measures in seven other states, Idaho’s amendment came as a handful of local governments across the U.S. have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections, and after years of election security fears fueled in part by false claims about droves of noncitizens voting in federal elections.

Tuesday’s general election results won’t become official until the State Board of Canvassers certifies the election results. The canvass is scheduled to occur Nov. 26 at the Statehouse in Boise, said Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane.

In October, Idaho state Rep. Kevin Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs, told the Idaho Capital Sun he proposed the amendment to make sure that Idaho law is clear: Noncitizens can’t vote in government elections.

But some Democrat state lawmakers worried the amendment could be interpreted to block noncitizens — even immigrants who are legally in the U.S., but aren’t citizens — from voting in private elections, like homeowners associations and parent teacher associations.

Andrus has said private elections wouldn’t be affected by the amendment, and said that wasn’t his intent.

No state lets noncitizens vote in statewide elections, according to a March article by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

According to the organization, municipalities in three states and Washington, D.C., let noncitizens vote in some local elections, such as school board elections in San Francisco, and municipal elections in cities in Maryland and Vermont.

Idaho is not among those states. But Idaho’s proposed constitutional amendment, Andrus previously said, would preemptively block any Idaho localities from potentially allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.