A pin on the jacket of Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, is shown as he speaks at a press conference on Wednesday supporting a state question that attempts to strengthen the state’s ban on non-citizen voting in Oklahoma elections. (Photo by Janelle Stecklein/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Passed in the final hour of the legislative session, a proposal to more explicitly ban non-U.S. citizens from voting will land on Oklahoma ballots in the Nov. 5 election.
State Question 834 would change the Oklahoma Constitution’s definition of eligible voters from “all citizens of the United States” to “only citizens of the United States.”
State and federal law already prohibit residents without U.S. citizenship from voting, under threat of a felony conviction. A limited number of cities in other states allow non-citizens to participate in municipal or school board elections but not state or federal elections.
Oklahoma is one of eight states with “only citizen voting” propositions on the ballot this November, and 12 other states already enacted this language, according to Americans for Citizen Voting, a national group advocating for outlawing non-citizen voting.