KENTUCKY, USA — Kentucky voters will find two constitutional amendments on their ballot this upcoming election.
Constitutional Amendment 2, which would allocate some taxpayer dollars earmarked for public schools instead to private or charters schools, is the more widely known statewide ballot issue. However Amendment 1 is far lesser known.
Election Day in Kentucky is Nov. 5, however early voting begins on Oct. 31. Click here for WHAS11's voter guide.
What is Amendment 1 in Kentucky?
Constitutional Amendment 1 would add one line to Sections 145 and 155 of the state's constitution: "No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in this state."
Noncitizens are already prohibited from voting under federal election laws.
RELATED: Illegal voting by noncitizens is rare, yet Republicans are making it a major issue this election
During an interim joint committee on state government in June, Secretary of State Michael Adams (R-Ky.) said he has seen "no evidence" of noncitizens voting or attempting to vote in Kentucky's elections during his time in office.
"The policy of my office, the State Board of Elections and our county clerks, is that noncitizens are not permitted to vote in any Kentucky election," Adams said.
What's the difference between a "yes" or "no" vote on Amendment 1 in Kentucky?
If you vote "yes" on Amendment 1, you would support adding the language in bold to Kentucky's constitution:
"IT IS PROPOSED THAT SECTION 145 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY BE AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
Every citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years who has resided in the state one year, and in the county six months, and the precinct in which he or she offers to vote sixty days next preceding the election, shall be a voter in said precinct and not elsewhere. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in this state. The following persons also shall not have the right to vote:
1. Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of treason, or felony, or bribery in an election, or of such high misdemeanor as the General Assembly may declare shall operate as an exclusion from the right of suffrage, but persons hereby excluded may be restored to their civil rights by executive pardon.
2. Persons who, at the time of the election, are in confinement under the judgment of a court for some penal offense.
3. Idiots and insane persons.
IT IS PROPOSED THAT SECTION 155 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY BE AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
The provisions of Sections 145 to 154, inclusive, shall not apply to the election of school trustees and other common school district elections. Said elections shall be regulated by the General Assembly, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in said elections."
If you vote "no" on Amendment 1, you would not support changing language in the state's constitution as it relates to this issue. If the issue fails, it does not mean non U.S. citizens would be allowed to vote in Kentucky's elections.
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