Why Oklahoma has an ‘only citizens’ measure on the ballot

As Election Day nears, voters in Oklahoma are weighing a ballot measure that would restrict voting “only” to U.S. citizens, echoing a broader Republican effort to fight noncitizen voting, which is already rare.
Supporters of the proposed one-word change see the measure as protecting the state constitution, but critics believe it will fuel falsehoods about noncitizen voting.
State Question 834 would amend Section 1 of Article III to change “all citizens of the United States” to “only citizens of the United States” who are eligible to vote.
WATCH: Fact-checking right-wing claims about election security and noncitizens voting
As is the case in other states, it is a felony in Oklahoma to register to vote or cast a ballot if you’re not a U.S. citizen.
Noncitizens found guilty of voting illegally face deportation and loss of legal status. Falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register to vote can result in deportation or denial of future immigration opportunities.
The state constitution has given only citizens the right to vote since it was ratified in 1907, and voters reaffirmed this constitutional amendment in 1978.
The new resolution “changes one word and really only one thing in the Oklahoma Constitution,” said state Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, the resolution’s author, in May. The amendment does not single out a particular group, supporters say.
“What we are doing is safeguarding the intent of the constitutional language for the future to avoid confusion since the term ‘all’ is not exclusionary,” Bergstrom said. “We want to make the original intent of the constitution perfectly clear,” he added.
Oklahoma Democratic Sen. Michael Brooks, chair of the Latino Caucus, said this is just another political ploy designed to sow misinformation.
“I think as much as some of these political stunts are there to heighten the rancor and the rhetoric, a lot of it is intended to intimidate people who are living here and living by the rules,” Brooks said. “It’s a way to diffuse misinformation to a community who are welcoming and trying to make a life here.”
While on the campaign trail, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly made the false claim that noncitizen voting is widespread. Election integrity experts say there’s no factual basis to support his claim.
There are eight states with this kind of constitutional amendment on the ballot this year. Oklahoma would join other states like Alabama, Louisiana, Colorado, and Florida that have passed similar measures to restrict voting to “only citizens.”
While Oklahoma’s ballot measure wouldn’t change current state law, it would prevent any of its cities from allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.
David Becker, the executive director for the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the number of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections is “extremely small.”

Watch the discussion in the player above.
Reviews conducted by election officials in Ohio and Georgia found six and nine instances of noncitizens voting in the past decade-plus, he added.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Becker said during a live event about election law myths with the Knight Election Law Forum and the American Bar Association. “But what this is doing is setting the stage that the election was stolen afterwards. They want to be able to call up these arguments after the election to his sincerely disappointed supporters if he loses and perhaps incite anger or division, donations or even violence in the post-election period.”
Americans for Citizen Voting is a national group that pushes for “only citizens” legislation that defines who’s an eligible voter. On its website, the organization says voting by noncitizens is happening right now in the U.S. in 19 different cities across four states, California, Maryland, Illinois and Vermont, as well as Washington D.C.
No cities or municipalities in Oklahoma allow noncitizens to vote. Some U.S. cities do allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, like school board or city council races.
The organization acknowledges that while federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, measures like Oklahoma’s SQ 834, would further protect state and local elections by making it explicitly clear that they are also “only” for U.S. citizens.
Jack Tomczak, a spokesperson for Americans for Citizen Voting, said even though Oklahoma hasn’t shown any sign of allowing noncitizens to vote, he believes the ballot measure is justified as a way of safeguarding elections in the future.
“People can see what happens in these other states,” he said. “They don’t want what’s happening in other places to happen in Oklahoma.”
But for Brooks, the measure is unnecessary and an “unfortunate sign” that state lawmakers will use the plight of undocumented people in the state to score further political points.
“A lot of the political rhetoric and conspiracy theories are behind this,” Brooks said. “This is much more of a political stunt than it is a policy that’s designed to make the state of Oklahoma better.”
Days before the election, CJ Garcia, an organizer from the immigrant advocacy group Dream Action Oklahoma, sees every hateful post from Trump supporters on social media as another slight against her community.
“It’s just another ploy to divide us,” they said. “It’s a political stunt to say, ‘Look at what this community is doing now.’ It’s simply not true.”
Oklahoma is home to nearly 69,000 undocumented immigrants who contribute more than $200 million annually in federal, state and local taxes, according to the American Immigration Council.
Garcia helps lead talks around her community to discuss the rights noncitizens and undocumented people have in Oklahoma, which has a Republican supermajority in the state Legislature pushing for more bills that target undocumented people.
Garcia said they haven’t heard anyone attending these events ask how they can cast a ballot before they’ve become a citizen. Instead, most people are concerned with how to live their day-to-day life.
While Brooks continues to talk to community members about their concerns heading into the next legislative session, he’s worried about the ramifications of what seems like a simple change to the state constitution.
If Republicans will fight so hard to change one word, he said, what plans are next?
“There’s a perception that immigration is threatening to people even though we are a nation of immigrants,” he said, adding that a steady flow of immigrants who come to the U.S. is what makes the country – and the state of Oklahoma – strong.
“They will start at the bottom and work their way up,” he said.