Eight US states to vote on amendments to ban noncitizen voters

WASHINGTON: Eight US states are asking to ban noncitizens from voting even though it is already illegal, and critics say it is part of a plan by Donald Trump and his Republican allies to challenge the presidential election result if he loses again on Nov 5.

The states include two that are expected to help decide the election. The measures, on the Nov 5 ballot, seek to amend state constitutions. Trump, the Republican Party candidate, says noncitizen votes could skew the election outcome.

Support from a majority of voters would mainly tweak state constitutions to say explicitly that only citizens can vote, a change critics say will have little practical effect, given that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in those states.

The proposals will be on the ballot in November in the swing states of North Carolina and Wisconsin as well as the solidly Republican states of Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Supporters say the measures address voter concerns spawned by record levels of illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration and the discovery of small numbers of potential noncitizens on voter rolls in some states.