Wisconsin voters will have the opportunity on Election Day to ensure that “only” U.S. citizens can vote in Badger State elections — and an army of leftist groups is fighting tooth and nail to see the constitutional amendment ballot question fail.
Wisconsin is among eight states with Citizen-Only Voting Amendments (COVA) on Tuesday’s general election ballot. While COVA advocates sound confident that the referenda will be approved, Wisconsin left-wing activists have come out in full force to try to shut down the drive.
“We’re confident that all eight amendments are going to pass because it’s an issue people get and agree with. But the most difficult is Wisconsin because of well-funded opposition,” Jack Tomczak, vice president for Citizen Outreach for Americans for Citizen Voting, told The Federalist in an interview late last week.
‘Every’ vs. ‘Only’
Wisconsin’s ballot question asks voters the following:
Should…[the Constitution] be amended to provide that only a United States citizen age 18 or older who resides in an election district may vote in an election for national, state, or local office or on a statewide or local referendum?
Wisconsin’s constitution states, “Every U.S. citizen age 18 or older who has resided in an election district or ward for 28 consecutive days before any election where the citizen offers to vote is an eligible elector.”
Just one little word makes a very big difference, proponents of the amendment say. “Only” clearly limits voting in state elections to citizens; “every” leaves open the door for noncitizens
