Republican Governor Greg Abbott has just signed legislation that will eliminate the risk of non-citizens voting in Texas’s elections.
Abbott announced that he signed a bill on Monday to “make it crystal clear” that only American citizens can vote in Texas.
In a video posted to X, Gov Abbott said:
“I just signed off on a joint resolution to make it crystal clear under the Texas Constitution that if you are not a citizen of the United States of America, you are not allowed to vote in Texas.”
Republican Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell introduced Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 37 in January.
In the resolution, he proposed a constitutional amendment clarifying that voters in Texas elections must be U.S. citizens.
Before the resolution, the constitution prohibited people under the age of 18, those determined mentally incompetent by a court, or convicted felons from voting in elections.
The amendment proposes adding a line to the classes of people who “shall not be allowed to vote” in Texas.
The new line reads, “persons who are not citizens of the United States.”
Birdwell’s joint resolution was approved by the state Senate in April.
It then passed the state House in May.
Abbott signed the joint resolution on Monday, but it still has one more step.
In November, Texas citizens will have the final say on whether the state constitution can be ratified to include the requirement in the state constitution.
Last month, a federal judge blocked an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that would require proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote.
Bill Clinton-appointed Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the order in response to lawsuits filed by three separate groups of Democrat plaintiffs.
The lawsuits were over five different provisions in a March 25 Trump executive order relating to election integrity.
While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to block three of the provisions, requests to block two other provisions pertaining to a proof of citizenship requirement for voters were granted.
The first blocked provision sought to compel the Election Assistance Commission to amend standardized national voter registration forms to require documentary proof of citizenship.
The second sought to require federal agencies offering voter registration to people on public assistance to “assess” the individual’s citizenship status before doing so.
“Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections.
“Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would affect many of the changes the President purports to order,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her order.
“No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
Meanwhile, 25 states, including Texas, are considering some form of proof-of-citizenship legislation, according to the Voting Rights Lab.
Voting Rights Lab is tracking such legislation.
In total, 15 state constitutions have explicit prohibitions against non-citizen voting.
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