A new poll shows overwhelming support for an amendment that would make ensure only United States citizens vote in Missouri elections.
Amendment 7 also is known as the Only Citizens Vote and Only Vote Once Amendment.
Recent polling by Public Opinion Strategies shows support for Amendment 7 by a 2 to 1 margin (68% to 28%) with 81% percent of those polled being in favor of making Missouri’s Constitution consistent with state law by only allowing citizens of the United States to vote.
Bailey
| File photo
“We need Amendment 7 to secure our elections in Missouri,” Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe, who also is the Republican nominee for governor, said in a press release. “Immigrants who lawfully become naturalized citizens have worked very hard to achieve their right to participate in our elections.
“I’m proud to endorse this commonsense measure because it respects the efforts of countless individuals who truly understand the gift that it means to be an American citizen, and I ask Missourians to join me in ensuring its passage on November 5th.”
The survey results show support for Amendment 7 is strong throughout Missouri among all demographics, including 57% of minority voters and 60% of first- or second-generation naturalized citizen voters.
“I am a first-generation American, and I worked hard to pursue the American Dream and earn the opportunity to become a citizen,” State Treasurer Vivek Malek said. “The right to vote and participate in our elections is fundamental to our republic, and that is why we need to pass the Only Citizens Vote and Only Vote Once Amendment.”
Nineteen cities in California, Maryland, Vermont and the District of Columbia currently allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. A 20th city (Santa Ana, California) will decide on November 5 whether to allow non-citizens to vote.
If passed this November, Missouri’s Amendment 7 would place citizen only voting in the state constitution, making the constitution consistent with state law. The measure also prohibits ranked choice voting and requires the plurality winner of a political party primary to be the single candidate at a general election.
According to a white paper about non-citizen voting in Missouri prepared by Becky Arps, director of research for Americans for Citizen Voting, Missouri law gives any city with a population of more than 400,000 the right to regulate its own elections. That makes Kansas City the only city that could enact rules for its local elections that go beyond state voter qualifications.
The paper goes on to say that any Missouri city with more than 5,000 residents – of which there are 43 – has powers that only are “only restrained by the constitution of the state.” And because the state constitution does not limit the right to vote to only United States citizens, “there is nothing stopping these 43 cities from allowing non-citizens to vote in municipal and school board elections.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey spoke at an October 10 press conference at the state Capitol sponsored by Americans for Citizen Voting to promote the passage of Amendment 7.
“Amendment 7 will make our state Constitution clear and unambiguous,” Bailey said. “While serving as a platoon leader in Iraq, one of my missions was to secure an election, so I know first-hand what election integrity looks like.
“Having the right to vote and freedom to participate in elections is a sacred right that generations of brave Americans have died to protect. Only United States citizens should vote in our elections.”
The poll was conducted September 4-9 by Public Opinion Strategies of Alexandria, Va. The company surveyed 600 registered Missouri voters, and the margin of error is 4.0%.
Amendment 7 was passed by the Missouri General Assembly during the 2024 legislative session. It was sponsored by State Senator Ben Brown (R-26th District) and State Representative Ben Baker (R-160th District).
For more information about the survey’s key findings, click here.