WS Chronicle

By Howard Pearre

Watch out! They’re trying to amend the North Carolina Constitution again. 

On Nov. 5, after we make all of our choices for candidates for political offices, we won’t be done. Our ballots also will include an amendment to the State Constitution that may only seem to slightly change the wording about voter qualifications. But the proposed amendment actually has the potential to cause significant harm, according to a long-time Wake Forest University law professor and the League of Women Voters. 

Why would they do that since it is already the law of the land that a voter must be a U.S. citizen and 18 years of age?

WFU professor Margaret Taylor has urged citizens to vote “no” on the constitutional amendment. She explained in a statement that has gone viral on Facebook, that the current text of the State Constitution mirrors the protections of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by including protections of voting rights for “every person born in the United States” and “every person who has been naturalized.”

(Article 6, Section 1 of the N.C. Constitution: “Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized, 18 years of age, and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article, shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people of the State, except as herein otherwise provided.” Italics added.)

The proposed amendment would  “provide that only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age and otherwise possessing the qualifications for voting shall be entitled to vote at any election in this State.” (Italics added.)

“This would weaken voting protections if it was interpreted to allow the General Assembly to establish those qualifications,” Taylor’s statement said. 

The current wording in the Constitution “means that (the) North Carolina General Assembly can’t by itself change voting protections set out in Article 6, Section 1; instead, the State Constitution must be amended.” Amending the Constitution then would require a vote by the citizens, not just by the legislators.

The N.C. League of Women Voters also is firmly opposed to this amendment. Here’s what they said in an online statement:

“The statewide ballot in North Carolina includes a completely unnecessary constitutional amendment that seeks to clarify that only citizens can vote. The amendment builds on unfounded anti-immigrant fears and conspiracy theories that non-citizens are committing widespread voter fraud and threatening our elections. Existing North Carolina law makes it illegal for non-citizens to vote. Therefore, the proposed N.C. constitutional amendment prohibiting non-citizens from voting points to a problem that does not exist.” 

The N.C. constitutional amendment is similar to legislation, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the League’s statement reported.

If the SAVE Act were to become law, it “would require documentary proof of citizenship, creating barriers for all eligible Americans to participate in the registration and voting process,” the League’s statement says. That Act “is based on baseless claims about non-citizens voting in federal and state elections, and is being used as a pretext to spread disinformation and undermine voting access.” 

(The SAVE Act recently was tied to a U.S. House Continuing Resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown, then later separated from that resolution. However, it remains a priority of the Republican majority, according to a report by the National Association of Counties.) 

The League’s statement continued, “Both the N.C. constitutional amendment and the SAVE Act are blatant attempts to erode voter confidence ahead of the November elections, based on lies about who is voting. They are rooted in an anti-immigrant agenda in direct opposition to this country’s values.” 

Howard Pearre retired after a career as a counselor and manager with N.C. Vocational Rehabilitation and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. He has led training workshops on voter registration and is a member of  Winston-Salem Writers.