As election day nears much attention has been paid to Amendment 2, also called the school voucher or choice amendment. Amendment 1 on the other hand has not been given the same treatment. If it gets the votes needed to pass, the measure will change the language in Kentucky’s constitution to explicitly state that non-US citizens cannot vote in the Commonwealth’s elections.
Douglas Mock is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Morehead State University. He said non-citizens are already barred from voting in Kentucky elections at the federal level and current language in the state constitution dictates that only citizens are allowed to vote.
“It is a statement amendment. The law as it's currently constituted, non-citizens cannot vote in any election in Kentucky. I think what the proponents of the amendment would argue is that you need to have a constitutional amendment because federal statutory law can change,” said Mock.
Mock said supporters of the amendment claim it safeguards Kentucky’s elections in the event federal law does change. However, Mock said to the best of his knowledge, there is no talk of that happening. On the other side, Mock said opponents see this as an amendment with no real effect that insults immigrant populations.
“This is, or can be construed as, just a gratuitous slap at the immigrant population, because under existing law, in Kentucky, non-citizens can’t vote. So, the amendment, from a substantive standpoint, under existing law, would be completely superfluous. It adds nothing to what the law currently says,” said Mock.
Election day is Tuesday, November 5.