First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Alaska voters have approved Ballot Measure 3, a measure requiring U.S. citizenship to vote in state elections, with nearly 70 percent support — a result supporters are holding up as evidence of where voters stand on election rules, even as Republicans suffered heavy losses elsewhere on Tuesday.
The Associated Press called the measure on election night, with Yes leading 142,991 votes to 62,336 — 69.6 percent — with 72.7 percent of precincts reporting. Ballotpedia's tally put Yes at 69.64 percent. The results remain unofficial until certified.
Ballot Measure 3 was an indirect initiated state statute, backed by the group Alaskans for Citizen Voting. No campaign was registered to oppose it. It amends state law to provide that "only a person who is a citizen of the United States" may vote in any election.
Federal law has barred noncitizens from voting for president and Congress since 1996, but the rules for state and local elections are set by the states. Alaska was one of five states to approve citizen-only voting measures on Tuesday, alongside Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia. California voters, by contrast, rejected Proposition 39, which would have imposed voter ID requirements.
The result puts Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska under renewed scrutiny. Murkowski has opposed the SAVE America Act, the federal bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote — a measure that has so far failed to get a Senate vote. Supporters of the Alaska measure say the nearly 70 percent vote shows strong public backing for citizen-only voting, and they are pointing to Alaska as an example in the push for Congress to take up nationwide election rules. Whether Congress acts next is now the open question.