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Supporting the Right to Vote: Voter Awareness and Constitutional Amendments

10/08/2024 08:57:14 AM

Oct8

With important elections in August and November, the TBE Civic Engagement Action Team kicked into high gear. Through monthly postcard parties, 40 TBE members have sent more than 1,000 postcards to promote voter registration in low-turnout areas and awareness of key ballot issues. 

In Wisconsin, we worked with the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign to promote registration and raise awareness of two proposed constitutional amendments. We worked in partnership with the URJ Religious Action Center and TBE Sisterhood to address racial barriers to voting in Georgia and Pennsylvania and to urge Florida voters to support a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive health care. In addition, members partnered with the League of Women Voters outreach program at the Division of Motor Vehicles, which has helped more than 1,500 citizens register to vote this summer and fall.

In November, Wisconsin voters will consider a proposed constitutional amendment that carries the potential to restrict the right of every citizen to vote. The question on the ballot sounds harmless:

Eligibility to vote. Shall section 1 of Article III of the constitution, which deals with suffrage, be amended to provide that only a United States citizen age 18 or older who resides in an election district may vote in an election for national, state, or local office or at a statewide or local referendum?

But the actual amendment removes the current right of “every citizen” to vote, narrowing the language to say that “only a citizen” may vote. This opens the door for future legislation requiring all voters to produce proof of citizenship. Current law already requires citizenship to vote in state and federal elections, and illegal voting by noncitizens is minuscule—only three individuals have been prosecuted in Wisconsin since 2019. 

On the other hand, requiring documentation of citizenship would create a burden for the nearly 10% of the population who cannot readily produce a birth certificate or passport. This creates a needless barrier to voting, affecting married people who have changed names, students away from home, and people who don’t have the money or time to order a copy of their birth certificate. For these reasons, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin recommends voting no on this amendment to protect every citizen’s right to vote.

The nonpartisan website Ballotpedia has a detailed explanation of the language and potential effects of this amendment.

Key dates for the November election:

 

April 30, 2025 2 Iyar 5785