Only U.S. citizens may vote in any election - federal, state, or local.

What Does This Claim Mean?

This claim proposes one national standard of voter eligibility: Only United States citizens may vote in any American election - federal, state, or local.

Federal elections are already citizens-only under federal law, and no state permits noncitizen voting statewide. What remains open is local: The District of Columbia and a small number of municipalities allow noncitizens to vote in some local contests.

This claim closes that gap and makes the standard uniform and permanent.

Why Is This Claim True?

Every fact in this claim's registry links to its end source - the statute, court record, official data, or study itself - so readers can check us. Fact numbers are permanent and global: The same fact carries the same number in every claim where it appears. For each fact we verified two things: Its lane, and that the source actually states what we summarize. Our conclusions appear in Q3 and Q4.

Affirming: 23 facts, 38 source links.

Dissenting: 12 facts, 19 source links.

Neutral: 38 facts, 60 source links.

Total: 73 facts, 117 source links.

Who And What Does This Claim Impact?

Voting in America is already reserved to citizens almost everywhere. Federal law has required it since 1996, no state allows noncitizens to vote in statewide elections, and the courts treat the electorate as the political community of citizens.

The exception is local: Roughly sixteen to nineteen cities and towns - plus the District of Columbia - lawfully allow noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Where it is lawful, participation has been very low. Where it is not lawful, noncitizens have still been registered - and have voted - through government error.

No election result is known to have changed because of noncitizen voting. But local margins are small, registration errors keep surfacing, and identity fraud keeps getting cheaper. The risk this claim addresses is forward-looking.

The claim burdens no eligible voter: It defines who may vote, not what any voter does or the election process.

Whenever voters have been asked, they have said yes - citizens-only ballot measures have passed in fifteen states, averaging 73 percent support.

Two questions stay open: (1) No national poll has tested this claim as written, and (2) participation where noncitizen voting is lawful is thinly documented. Our conclusion can be found in Q4 | Solution.

Solution Dependencies: What This Claim Needs to Work

This claim sets the goal for a proposed constitutional amendment defining who may vote. The dependent claims below supply what that law needs to work. Each is researched separately:

1. Government-issued photo ID and signature verification when voting (Claim #04-003-002 - complete).

2. Mail-in ballots must meet the same identity-verification standards as in-person voting (Claim #04-003-003 - pending).

3. Accurate voter rolls must be maintained (Claim #04-003-004), and all voters should be required to re-register (Claim #04-003-005). Both are pending.

4. Every adult must maintain a current government-issued photo ID verifying identity and citizenship status (Claim #01-004-001 - complete), confirmed through a national identification database (Claim #01-004-004 - pending).

What Is Best for the Common Good?

Our verdict: The facts support this claim as beneficial for the common good of all Americans. One standard - only citizens vote, in every election - should become law, by the lawful routes and with these safeguards built in:

1. One citizenship standard for every election: Federal, state, and local.

2. Pair the rule with the path: Direct notice to affected residents with clear information on how to become a citizen.

3. Enacted only by the lawful routes: State constitutional amendments, Congress for the District of Columbia, and a U.S. constitutional amendment. Never by executive order.

4. No new burden on any voter: The claim changes who is eligible, not what any voter or election office does.

5. Respect the method constraints: How citizenship is verified belongs to the dependency claims, listed in the full version of Q1 | Meaning (available on its own, or within the Full Report - see the navigation above).

The full report contains three model texts in plain language for implementation of this claim - one for each lawful route - including a proposed constitutional amendment written in the Constitution's own enforcement formula.

Simple Liberty Foundation researches, publishes, and teaches; whether to act belongs to the people and those they elect.

We provide this information, so citizens of good conscience may:

1. Understand this claim and the evidence behind it.

2. Have the facts needed for civil discussion.

3. Consider applying this knowledge to engage effectively with their elected officials on this type of law.

Consider each question with its evidence and conclusions. Forward this to others.