Noncitizen voting conundrum

by Dana Gentry, Corvallis

Should noncitizens be allowed to vote? That seems to be the question before us in HB 402. Although it’s a bit vague, it clearly references noncitizens voting by line 13-16 of the bill, “requiring an applicant’s registration to be accepted and processed while citizenship verification is pending; and allowing a person whose registration has been accepted and processed to vote while citizenship verification is pending” (meaning they are a noncitizen at the time they vote).

In both the U.S. Constitution in Amendment XIV section 2 and the Montana Constitution in Article IV section 2, an elector must be a citizen in order to vote. As a matter of fact, in the Montana Code Annotated (the election law), 13-2-206 “Citizenship requirements: A person may not be permitted to register until the person attains United States citizenship.”

I did some research on the laws that Rep. Bedey referenced in his editorial and indeed the Federal law allows for the exemptions in this bill for all Federal Elections. When the Congress passed it and the Federal Courts upheld it, were they not thinking of their oath of office to uphold the Constitution? Seems obvious that voting rights are reserved for citizens only.

Now this becomes a moral/ethical issue. Should our State go against our constitution in order to catch the noncitizens who vote as the sponsors claim, or codify an unconstitutional law? I vote to take the high road and find another way to ‘catch’ those trying to defraud our system.