Laurel Lee introduces constitutional amendment requiring citizenship to vote

[RandySF]

A Florida Congresswoman wants the U.S. Constitution to require citizenship to vote in federal elections.

U.S. Reps. Laurel Lee has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to establish clear and permanent language on the requirement.

“For generations, Americans have shared a clear and common understanding: voting in federal elections is a right reserved for United States citizens,” the Thonotosassa Republican said.

“While current federal law reflects that consensus, the Constitution itself does not explicitly require citizenship for voting in federal elections. This amendment provides the clarity and permanence needed to ensure that this fundamental principle is protected.”




https://floridapolitics.com/archives/786101-laurel-lee-introduces-constitutional-amendment-requiring-citizenship-to-vote/

[LearnedHand]

1. (A), in the same way amendments have protected all our other rights

And (B), non-citizens voting is not a thing. So rare as to be in the decimal dust.

[pat_k]

2. Why not allow legal residents to vote?

First, I don't get their bizarre obsession with the idea that non-citizens are voting when every effort to find cases is an utter waste of time and money because the are vanishingly few incidents. (See below).

Second, why the fuck NOT allow legal residents to vote? Don't they have as much interest in shaping our government as citizens do?

https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/four-things-to-know-about-noncitizen-voting/

Recent public debate has focused heavily on audits of voter registration lists, as these audits sometimes flag individuals who appear to be registered as noncitizens. In many cases, however, further review shows the individual is in fact a citizen, and they were only flagged due to clerical errors or outdated records. For example:

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose flagged 521 cases of potential noncitizen voting between 2019 and September 2023. But an Ohio Capital Journal review found just one case in which a noncitizen was ultimately charged with voter fraud. The review noted that this was due to a combination of accidental registration and a lag in how the department of motor vehicles updates an individual’s citizenship status after naturalization.

Utah performed a citizenship review of its entire voter registration list from April 2025 through January 2026. After a time-intensive, multi-step review of more than 2 million registered voters, they identified only one confirmed instance of noncitizen registration and zero instances of noncitizen voting.

Georgia: In October 2024, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that a citizenship audit of 8.2 million registered voters identified 20 noncitizens who had registered to vote. Of those 20 individuals, just nine had cast ballots in prior elections, most before Georgia implemented enhanced citizenship verification through the Department of Driver Services in 2012. The cases were referred to local prosecutors for investigation.

[AZJonnie]

3. This is all about sandbagging Democrats, e.g. the GQP hopes to getting some of us on record complaining about the idea

Assuming what's written here is ALL the amendment says, and not "therefore the Federal Government is in charge the voter roles for every state" or the like, I'm not immediately seeing the downside of our side saying "Fine, let's do it", but this is just an initial impulse.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Her mailbox should be filled with "You are an idiot and a fool" letters

But, it must be said, she is a legend in her own mind as evidenced by the fact that she *thinks* that is an important point for the public to consider.