West Virginia seeks to become latest state to ban noncitizen voting

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a resolution Tuesday that would let voters decide whether to prohibit people who are not U.S. citizens from voting in elections.

The resolution passed on a 96-0 vote with little debate and now moves to the state Senate. Both chambers are overwhelmingly Republican. If the 34-member Senate passes the resolution by a two-thirds vote, it would be placed on the general election ballot in November.

Republican Delegate Tom Fast of Fayette County said in explaining the resolution that a citizen of West Virginia is currently defined by residency in the state constitution.

Federal law already requires U.S. citizenship to vote in national elections.

According to the group Americans for Citizen Voting, 11 states have adopted the “only citizens” alternative in their state constitutions.