11月3日，六个州的选民将决定是否批准投票措施，这些措施将修改他们的州宪法或州法律，使美国公民身份成为投票的一项要求。
受到密切关注的全民公决反映出唐纳德·特朗普总统推动打击非公民投票基于未经证实的大范围选民欺诈的指控。
投票权倡导者警告说，他们也增加了排挤数百万合格美国选民的可能性。
“而不是加强民主，［修正案］是一个政治策略，旨在证明未来投票权的减少，”美国公民自由联盟堪萨斯州分会的拉沙恩·汉比说作证时去年。
联邦和州法律已经禁止非公民在任何联邦或全州选举中投票，但宪法修正案的倡导者说，甚至需要更多的保护。
“众所周知，法律是可以改变的，”西弗吉尼亚州共和党参议员帕特里夏·拉克（Patricia Rucker）在上个月的新闻发布会上说。“这项拟议的修正案将确保未来的立法机构不能仅凭一项法案就简单地改变选举法。”
目前没有一个州的宪法包含投票的公民资格要求。亚利桑那州、阿肯色州、堪萨斯州、南达科他州和西弗吉尼亚州这五个州正在投票表决修正案。阿拉斯加的一项倡议将创造一个新的州法律。
一些支持者特别关心的是：三个州的主要城市以及哥伦比亚特区允许一些非公民合法参加地方选举。
阿肯色州众议员大卫·雷在上个月的一次新闻发布会上说，“没有什么东西能神奇地阻止那些坏想法在该州的边界出现。”。
许多民权团体和无党派的选民支持者害怕这些措施以及随之而来的法规需要公民身份证明登记投票可能会剥夺数千万美国人的选举权。
印第安纳州的杰米·洛丽塔·佩珀（Jemmie Lolita Pepper）是一名前公立学校教育工作者，她出生在美国领土上，但花了几十年时间无法证明这一点，她说她对辩论的双方都有同感。
“我理解要求证明的愿望，这样就不会有选民欺诈或类似的事情。63岁的佩珀在接受采访时说：“我真的支持这一点：没有选民欺诈。“但对于我们这些不得不在没有（任何文件）的情况下生活多年的人来说，你无法证明这一点。我不能。”
在无偿法律帮助下，佩珀最近解决了州记录中的一系列笔误，包括她的名字拼写错误和姓氏替换错误，这些错误使她无法获得官方的政府身份证，从而无法投票。她现在有一个。
“他们把我的名字列为男孩的拼法，J-I-M-M-I-E，”佩珀回忆起她的法律历程我说，‘好吧，那还是我。“那还是我，”＂
据估计，有2130万美国人——占所有合格选民的9%——无法出示证明他们是美国公民的文件，原因是记录放错地方或无法获取，经济困难使更换费用无法支付，离婚或再婚导致的姓名变更，以及州数据库中的笔误，根据马里兰大学2025年的一项研究。
一些投票权倡导者说，公民身份证明的要求会对老年人、残疾人和农村选民造成特别严重的打击。
“我经历过飞毛腿导弹、骚乱、狙击火力。无法在所有这些过程中保持一致让我感到羞愧，但这真的很难，”密歇根州的西蒙·福特说，她是一名56岁的海湾战争老兵，患有严重的PTSD，难以离开自己的家。
“我没钱让律师给我改名。我几乎没有足够的钱来支付我的账单，”福特说，由于几次婚姻和离婚，她的姓氏目前与她的出生证明不符。
一些专家说，选民登记的额外文件要求可能会有效地关闭在线访问。即使人们确实有适当的文件，许多人可能没有复印机、公证人和扫描仪来提交电子文件。
目前有九个州的法律要求州政府官员通过在登记时查看文件证明、审查选民登记历史或与其他政府数据库进行交叉核对来核实选民的公民身份，根据州议会全国会议。
联邦法律要求所有州的选民签名证明他们是美国公民，否则将面临监禁的威胁。
尽管如此，83%的美国人，根据盖洛普的调查他说，首次登记投票的人应该提供文件证明他们是合格的公民。
特朗普及其共和党盟友制定全国性公民身份证明标准的努力今年早些时候在国会停滞不前，后来当他试图通过行政命令强制执行时，被联邦法院阻止。
由无党派的选举创新和研究中心编制的关于非公民投票的主要公众主张的在线跟踪显示，非公民投票的情况极其罕见。
例如，在密歇根州，州检察长在2024年的大选中，从大约570万张选票中确定了38个可信的非公民投票案例。占总投票数的0．0000066%。
根据州官员的说法，密歇根州的案件中有6起导致了刑事指控，10起没有指控就结案了，22起仍在审查中。
根据CEIR的记录，18个州没有公开披露在2024年选举中发现或从选民登记名单中删除任何非公民，也没有任何州发现任何让非公民投票的协调努力。
特朗普总统和司法部继续推动未经证实的关于广泛非公民投票的说法，作为更严格的选民登记规则的基础选票分离在几个州，包括加利福尼亚和华盛顿。
美国最高法院已经先前被击倒在联邦选民登记表中增加公民身份证明要求的努力。今年晚些时候，在亚利桑那州的一个重大案件中，法官将决定各州是否可以在州表格上和在州选举中强制要求公民身份证明。
Voters weigh citizenship amendments as Trump fans fears of noncitizen election fraud
Voters in six states on Nov． 3 will decide whether to approve ballot measures that would amend their state constitutions or state law to make U．S． citizenship a requirement for voting．
The closely watchedpopular referendareflect a push by President Donald Trump to crackdown onnoncitizen votingbased on unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud．
Voting-rights advocates warn they also raise the potential of sidelining millions of eligible American voters．
＂Rather than strengthening democracy， ［the amendments are］ a political maneuver designed to justify future rollbacks of voting rights，＂ said Rashane Hamby with the ACLU of Kansasin testimonylast year．
Federal and state laws already prohibit noncitizens from voting in any federal or statewide election， but advocates for the constitutional amendments say even more protection is needed．
＂Law can change， as we know，” said West Virginia state Sen． Patricia Rucker， a Republican， at a press conference last month． ＂This proposed amendment would ensure that no future legislature could just simply change the election law with only a bill．＂
No state constitution currently includes a citizenship requirement for voting．Five states -- Arizona， Arkansas， Kansas， South Dakota and West Virginia -- have amendments on the ballot． An Alaska initiative would create a new state law．
Of particular concern to some supporters：major cities in three states plus the District of Columbia that do allow some noncitizens to lawfully participate in local elections．
＂There＇s nothing that magically stops those bad ideas at that state＇s borders，＂ said Arkansas state Rep． David Ray in a news conference last month．
Many civil rights groups and nonpartisan voter advocates fear the measures -- and accompanying regulationsrequiring proof of citizenshipto register to vote -- could disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans．
Jemmie Lolita Pepper of Indiana， a former public-school educator who was born on U．S． soil but spent decades unable to prove it， says she empathizes with both sides of the debate．
＂I understand the desire to require proof so there won＇t be voter fraud or anything like that． I truly support that： no voter fraud，” said Pepper， 63， in an interview． ＂But for those of us who had to live years of not having ［any documentation］， you couldn’t prove it． I couldn＇t．＂
With pro bono legal help， Pepper recently untangled a series of clerical errors in state records -- including a misspelling of her first name and faulty substitution of her last name -- that had prevented her from obtaining an official government ID and， in turn， casting a ballot．She now has one．
＂They had my name listed as the boys＇ spelling， J-I-M-M-I-E，＂ Pepper recalled of her legal odyssey． ＂I said， ＇Well that’s still me． That＇s still me．＇＂
An estimated 21．3 million Americans -- or 9% of all eligible voters -- are unable to readily present documentation proving they are citizens because of misplaced or inaccessible records， financial hardship putting replacement fees out of reach， name changes from divorce or remarriage， and clerical errors in state databases，according toa 2025 study by the University of Maryland．
Only 48% of Americans have a valid passport as of 2023， according to the State Department．
Some voting-rights advocates say a proof-of-citizenship requirement would hit elderly， disabled and rural voters particularly hard．
＂I’ve been through SCUD missiles， riots， sniper fire． To be unable to keep it together navigating all these processes makes me ashamed to say， but it would be really difficult，＂ said Symmone Ford of Michigan， a 56-year-old Gulf War veteran with severe PTSD who has difficulty leaving her home．
＂I can’t afford the money for a lawyer to change my name． I barely have enough to pay my bills，＂ said Ford， whose last name does not currently match her birth certificate because of several marriages and divorces．
Additional paperwork requirements for voter registration could effectively shut down online access， some experts said． Even whenpeople do have proper documentation， many may lack access to copiers， notaries and scanners to submit electronically．
Nine states currently have laws requiring state officials to verify a voter＇s citizenship status either by looking at documentary proof at time of registration， reviewing voter registration history， or cross-checking with other government databases，according tothe National Conference of State Legislatures．
Federal law requires voters in all states to attest with a signature -- under threat of imprisonment -- that they are， in fact， U．S． citizens when they sign up for a ballot．
Still， 83% of Americans，according to Gallup， say people registering to vote for the first time should have to provide documentation to show that they are eligible citizens．
Efforts by Trump and his Republican allies to institute a nationwide proof-of-citizenship standard stalled in Congress earlier this year and later got blocked by federal courts when he attempted to impose it by executive order．
An online tracker of major public claims of noncitizen voting compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research shows cases of noncitizen voting are extremely rare．
In Michigan， for example， the state attorney general identified 38 credible cases of noncitizen voting in the 2024 general election out of roughly 5．7 million votes cast．That＇s 0．0000066% of total votes cast．
Six of the Michigan cases have resulted in criminal charges， while 10 were closed without charges and 22 are still under review， according to state officials．
Eighteen states did not publicly disclose finding or removing any noncitizen from a voter registration list in the 2024 election， and no state uncovered any coordinated effort to get noncitizens to vote， according to CEIR records．
President Trump and the Department of Justice continue to push unsubstantiated claims of widespread noncitizen voting as the basis for tighter voter registration rules andballot segregationin several states， including California and Washington．
The U．S． Supreme Court haspreviously struck downefforts to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to federal voter registration forms． Later this year， in a major case from Arizona， the justices will decide whether states can mandate proof-of-citizenship on state forms and for voting in state races．
