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Committee amends and passes HCR 5004 favorably to clarify citizenship requirement for voting
Summary
The Committee on Elections moved HCR 5004 favorably, approving an amendment that simplified the ballot description so the resolution clarifies only that a person must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible to vote in the state. The committee passed the resolution as amended by voice vote.
The House Committee on Elections took up HCR 5004, a proposed constitutional amendment, and approved it favorably as amended. Representative Penn moved the resolution out of committee; the vice chairman seconded.
Representative Penn offered an amendment to simplify the referendum description. As amended, the resolution’s description was pared to one clear point: the amendment would clarify that only a person who is a citizen of the United States is eligible to vote in the state. Penn explained the reasoning for the amendment, saying the longer, more complex descriptions reduce the likelihood of adoption by voters and that the revised language removes references unrelated to the central change.
Committee members voted on the amendment and then on the resolution as amended by voice votes. The chair announced that “the ayes do have it” and stated that HCR 5004 “is passed favorably.” No roll-call tally was recorded in the hearing transcript.
Why it matters: If advanced by the legislature and later approved by voters, the proposed constitutional amendment would explicitly state in the state constitution that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote, removing any ambiguity the sponsors believe exists in the current ballot language.
What’s next: The committee passed the resolution favorably and will forward it according to the constitutional amendment process. The transcript records voice votes; no roll-call vote totals were provided in the committee record.
