Non-citizen Voting in Connecticut

January 10, 2012
By Jon N. Hall

The Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, John DeStefano, a Democrat, wants to let non-citizens vote in city elections. One might ask the good mayor if he also thinks it OK for non-citizens to run for city offices, too -- like for mayor. According to a news story in New Haven Register, Pat O'Neill, spokesman for the state GOP House Republicans, asked when told of DeStefano's proposal: "When are they going to extend voting rights to the dead?"

One inconvenient little snag for Mr. DeStefano's expansion of the franchise is the Constitution of the State of Connecticut, which stipulates in Article 6, Section 1 that voters must be U.S. citizens. One might think that in requiring citizenship to vote, Connecticut's Constitution is merely reaffirming the U.S. Constitution. But there is no such requirement in the original Constitution, nor is there even an instance of the word "citizen" in the Bill of Rights.  Indeed, in all of the U.S. Constitution (including the other amendments), it is not explicitly stated that to vote in America, one must be a citizen.

The U.S. Constitution leaves eligibility requirements for voting to the states. Some states, for example, don't allow incarcerated felons to vote. So, could the states amend their constitutions and strike down the citizenship requirement for voting? the rest