The ballot question will ask voters whether the current language, which states that “Every citizen of the United States and of this State of the age of eighteen and upwards who is properly registered is entitled to vote as provided by law,” should be modified to say, “Only a citizen of the United States and of this State of the age of eighteen and upwards who is properly registered is entitled to vote as provided by law.”
The South Carolina General Assembly approved the addition of this question to the ballot earlier this year, citing concerns over the possibility of non-citizens voting in local elections. Proponents of the amendment, including Attorney General Alan Wilson, argue that this change is necessary to ensure that voting rights at all levels—municipal, state, and federal—are strictly limited to U.S. citizens.
“You can have a situation, and this is what advocates have claimed, where a person could vote in a municipal election who may not be a citizen,” Wilson explained. He pointed to examples from other parts of the country, such as San Francisco, where non-citizens have been allowed to vote in school board elections, as justification for the amendment. However, Wilson also acknowledged that no South Carolina municipalities have attempted to allow non-citizens to vote.
The process to get this question on the ballot required supermajority approval in both chambers of the South Carolina Legislature. The resolution easily surpassed this threshold, passing the Senate with a 40-3 vote in April and receiving unanimous approval from the House in May.
