House approves stiffer penalty and sends constitutional amendment on citizen-only voting to the ballot

The House approved two measures addressing noncitizen voting and election eligibility. Lawmakers passed Senate Bill 68, which raises the penalty for voting as a noncitizen, and voted to send Senate Joint Resolution 503, a constitutional amendment clarifying that only United States citizens are eligible to vote, to the ballot.

Senate Bill 68 drew floor amendments. Representative Manhart moved an amendment (68H) to raise the penalty for voting as a noncitizen to a class 6 felony; the amendment failed on a roll-call vote (ayes 31, nays 38, excused 1). Representative Manhart later asked for final passage of SB 68 with the existing language; the House recorded final passage as ayes 63, nays 6, excused 1.

Representative Manhart, speaking in favor of stiffer penalties, said the change was a deterrent and aligned state law with federal standards, citing federal criminal penalties for illegal voting. Opponents said the problem was largely administrative: several noncitizens had unintentionally appeared on voter rolls because of prior data-entry errors at the Department of Public Safety; Representative Whitman said 273 individuals had been flagged and that only one had voted in the 2016 election.

On the constitutional amendment, Representative Manhart said SJR 503 would explicitly state that noncitizens cannot vote. Critics on the floor urged against sending a measure to voters that mirrors existing law; Representative Muckey called it “a waste of the voters' time” because federal and state statutes already make clear that only U.S. citizens should vote. The House voted to transmit SJR 503 to the ballot; the clerk recorded yeas 58, nays 11, excused 1.

Both measures were presented as part of a wider election-integrity package and passed the House with clear majorities after floor debate and several amendments were defeated.