Wisconsin rejects ban on noncitizen voting

Voters in Wisconsin rejected a ballot measure amending the state’s constitution to explicitly prohibit foreign nationals from voting in any election in the state.

The ballot measure was part of a national GOP push to highlight legal noncitizen voting in local elections and illegal voting in state, local and federal elections, an extremely rare occurrence.

Some cities around the country allow foreign residents to vote locally, for instance in city council or school board elections.

No cities in Wisconsin currently allow noncitizen voting at any level.

But the referendum, like similar ones in seven states, kept the issue on the ballot.

Legal noncitizen voting is often conflated in political discourse with illegal voting, a rare phenomenon that’s nonetheless received national attention.

House Republicans this Congress pushed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would have increased proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration.

The bill ultimately died, faced with certain rejection in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Voters in North Carolina, another swing state, voted on a similar measure, as did voters in Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

Wisconsin, one of the swing states considered part of Democrats' "blue wall" path to the White House, voted for former President Trump on Tuesday, according to a Decision Desk HQ projection. He previously won the state in 2016 — the first time it went red since 1984 — but had lost it in 2020.

In its hotly contested Senate race, the Badger State reelected Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin to a third term over Republican Eric Hovde, one of several downballot Democratic victories in states Trump won.