On Tuesday, Kentucky voters will decide the fate of two constitutional amendments appearing on this year’s ballot. One would change nothing, while the other would potentially change everything about how we educate our children. Both are deeply troubling.
Constitutional Amendment 1 is politics at its worst. It would bar non-citizens from voting, something they already cannot do here and which even the most conservative estimates say is ” vanishingly rare ” in our country. State election officials further confirmed that finding earlier this summer, telling a legislative committee that they weren’t aware of any attempts in the Commonwealth.
Nonetheless, amendment supporters treat this “calamity” as a constitutional crisis. Their actual goal is more troubling because they hope it will enflame anti-immigrant sentiment while further eroding trust in our elections and endangering those who volunteer as election workers in Kentucky.
Whether it passes or fails, this amendment will have zero impact on voter-registration laws. Its defeat, however, would show that there is no political gain for falsely and unfairly maligning others.