Voters in Wisconsin have rejected a ballot measure amending the state’s constitution to explicitly prohibit foreign nationals from voting in any election in the state.
The ballot measure was part of a national GOP push to highlight legal non-citizen voting in local elections and illegal voting in state, local and federal elections, an extremely rare occurrence.
Some cities around the country allow foreign residents to vote locally, for instance in city council or school board elections.
No cities in Wisconsin currently allow non-citizen voting at any level.
But the referendum, like similar ones in seven states, kept the issue on the ballot.
Legal non-citizen voting is often conflated in political discourse with illegal voting, a rare phenomenon that’s nonetheless received national attention.
House Republicans this Congress pushed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would have increased proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration.
The bill ultimately died, faced with certain rejection in the Senate.
Voters in North Carolina, another swing state, voted on a similar measure, as did voters in Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
