Kentucky Constitution Amendment 1, November 2024: Restrictive Citizenship Voting Requirements

Kentucky’s Amendment 1 proposed excluding those from voting who are not citizens. Although federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting, states differ in their approaches to non-citizen voting. Kentucky’s constitution pre-amendment did not specifically contain language allowing non-citizens to vote, and there has never been explicit, exclusive language actually banning it. This paper examines the implications of such language and possible actions that might follow it to imperil our multicultural democracy.