South Carolina voters will join Iowa, Kentucky, and Wisconsin voters in deciding on ballot questions to add language to their respective state constitutions to provide that only U.S. citizens can vote in elections. All four ballot questions were placed on the Nov. 2024 ballot by their respective state legislatures.

Similar measures have appeared on ballots in North Dakota (2018), Colorado (2020), Alabama (2020), Florida (2020), Ohio (2022), and Louisiana (2022). All six were approved with at least 62.9% of the vote.

Currently, the South Carolina Constitution says, “Every citizen of the United States and of this State of the age of eighteen and upwards who is properly registered is entitled to vote as provided by law.”

To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required in both the South Carolina State Senate and the South Carolina House of Representatives.

The amendment was introduced as Senate Joint Resolution 1126 on Feb. 29, 2024. The Senate passed it on April 3, 2024, by a vote of 40-3. Two Democratic senators and one independent voted against it. The House passed it on May 2 by a vote of 105-0, with 19 absent or excused.

Sen. Josh Kimbrell (R-11), the author of the amendment, said, “It’s really encouraging to see that it had such overwhelming bipartisan support, because it’s really not a partisan issue. Protecting the ballot box is something both parties should agree with. We should not have people voting in any election, whether that’s for school board or mayor or senator, or Governor, who aren’t citizens of our state and of our country.”

This is the first amendment to be placed on the 2024 ballot in South Carolina. In South Carolina, the Legislature needs to approve a constitutional amendment for a second time after voters approve the amendment. This second vote requires a simple majority in the House and Senate.

Between 1985 and 2022, 56 ballot measures appeared on South Carolina ballots. Forty-seven ballot measures were approved, and nine ballot measures were defeated.

Additional reading: South Carolina 2024 ballot measures