KENTUCKY, USA — Kentucky voters have decided to add a single line to the state’s constitution on Tuesday.
Two constitutional amendments were on the ballot in Kentucky this November, including Amendment 1 which bars non-U.S. citizens from voting in elections.
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Amendment 1 adds the following to Sections 145 and 155 of the Kentucky constitution: "No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in this state."
Similar wording won approval from Louisiana voters two years ago.
Noncitizens are already prohibited from voting under federal election laws.
Here's how each Kentucky county voted on Amendment 1:
Why was Amendment 1 on Kentucky ballots?
A 1996 U.S. law makes it illegal for noncitizens to vote in elections for president or members of Congress. When people register to vote, they confirm under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.
Violators can be fined and imprisoned for up to a year. They can also be deported.
No state constitution explicitly allows noncitizens to vote, and many states have laws that prohibit noncitizens from voting for state offices such as governor or attorney general. But some municipalities in California, Maryland and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia, do allow voting by noncitizens in some local elections such as for school board and city council.
During an interim joint committee on state government in June, Kentucky’s Republican Secretary of State, Michael Adams, said he has seen "no evidence" of noncitizens voting or attempting to vote in any of 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.
Federal law requires states to regularly maintain their voter rolls and remove anyone who is ineligible, a process that could identify immigrants living in the country illegally.
Citing an influx of immigrants in recent years at the U.S.-Mexico border, Republicans have raised concerns about the possibility that noncitizens will be voting, even though cases of noncitizens actually voting are rare.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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