‘Just a waste’: This Oklahoma voting ballot measure is being called a waste of time by lawmakers and voters

The Ballot Measure:

Legislature about non-citizens being barred from voting has been popping up around the country recently, and Oklahoma is no exception. 

State Question 834, which will appear on the state’s ballot next month, will ask voters if the Oklahoma constitution should be amended to clarify that “only citizens of the United States are qualified to vote in the state.”

If that sounds redundant, that’s because it is—non-citizens cannot vote in Oklahoma. (Some areas allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, but none of those areas are in Oklahoma.)

The Backlash: 

State lawmakers are calling the ballot question “unnecessary.”

“It is currently a felony to register to vote in the state of Oklahoma if you are not a U.S. citizen,” State Sen. Carrie Hicks (D) said in a debate about the question. “It’s a political game.”

“[State question 834 is] pure election-year politics as non-citizens already can’t vote in Oklahoma,” State Rep. Jacob Rosecrants said in a post.

And Oklahomans think it’s a waste of resources and time.

“There may have been a few immigrants who voted nationwide, but they were the very, very, rare exceptions,” an Redditor wrote. “Wasting all the money and time to redefine something that is already unlawful as a crime is such a waste. It is simply stirring the pot of hate.”

“Just a waste,” another Redditor said. “Oklahoma has bigger problems to work on than this.”

The Background:

Last month, a law similar to the Oklahoma ballot question went viral, too. In New Hampshire, Governor Chris Sununu (R) signed a bill into law that requires the state’s voters to provide proof of citizenship to vote. And Republican lawmakers have been trying to get the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in the U.S., through Congress since May.

But as non-citizen voting in the U.S. is extremely rare, the New Hampshire law and SAVE Act are seen as superfluous by Democrats and other critics.

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