RALEIGH, N.C. — A group of Republicans in the state house are trying to change the North Carolina Constitution to make sure only US citizens can vote – even though that is already the law.
Their bill makes changes to Section 1 of Article VI of the state Constitution. In this part about who may vote it replaces “Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized” with “only a citizen of the United States.”
Four representatives from our area are among the people cosponsoring this bill. Representative Julia Howard, Representative Neal Jackson, Presentative Larry Potts, and Representative Dennis Riddel. We reached out to all of them for comment yesterday morning. Representative Potts from Davidson County is the only one who responded to comment.
Over the phone Potts said there’s a movement nationwide to reconsider if someone born in the United States should automatically become a US citizen. And if that changes, he feels North Carolina’s state constitution should be ready.
“There are birth flights that I've read about that's taking place from particularly China where the people wait until the mother waits until the last week or so of her pregnancy comes to America to have a child. He's got a dual citizenship deal. I don't think that was ever part of the framers of the Constitution's original intent,” Potts said.
WFMY News 2’s Ben Briscoe asked, “Right now that is a U.S. citizen according to federal law, so why not leave it how it is and change it if that changes with a court case? Why change it now?”
“Why not change it now?” Potts responded.
UNCG political science professor Thom Little says Republicans may see an added benefit to tackling this now. A Constitutional amendment would go on the November ballot and could drive turnout for the election. Little says it could also be good for the Republican candidate for governor Mark Robinson.
“This is something that might help to motivate the votes for Republicans in the short term you know for this election just get out the boat but I think the other thing for North Carolina Republicans is this would be something that candidate Mark Robinson can really sink his teeth into and talk about and maybe divert some of the attention from with some of his more controversial statements,” Little said.
We asked Potts about the idea this could be a political move since it does nothing to change the current law about who can and can’t vote. Here’s what he said.
“Oftentimes the opposing party uses abortion and other things to try to get more people out to the ballot in November, so I don't think that it's that. But if it is, it happens because that's politics,” Potts said.
Pushing for this change isn’t just happening in North Carolina. According to the Voting Rights Lab, 16 states are currently considering some type of legislation like the bill in Raleigh to ensure non-citizens can’t vote. Right now, the North Carolina bill still has a long way to go before being passed. We’ll keep you posted.