What is the Constitutional Amendment on Idaho’s Ballot this November, HJR 5. By Greg Pruett (10/03/24)

Vote YES on HJR5 “Citizen Voters Only”!

HJR5 amends Idaho’s Constitution Section 2 of Article VI as follows (bolded section is the proposed change):

QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS. Every male or female citizen of the United States, eighteen years old, who has resided in this state, and in the county where he or she offers to vote for the period provided by law, if registered as provided by law, is a qualified elector. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be a qualified elector in any election held within the state of Idaho.

Key Points:

Any Constitutional Amendment must be approved by the legislature before going to voters to be approved.

• HJR 5 passed the Idaho House 63-6 (one member absent) with several Democrats joining all Republicans in voting FOR.

• HJR5 passed in the Idaho Senate along party lines 28-6 (one member was absent) with all Republicans voting FOR and all Democrats voting AGAINST.

Pruett presents the text and the for and against arguments for this simple yet essential amendment to Idaho’s constitution. Boiled down…

• Arguments AGAINST: “Well, it’s already a federal law so we don’t need a state law.”

• Arguments FOR: “Yes, well we’ve seen existing federal laws and the US Constitution violated, so we must enshrine citizen-only voting in our Idaho State Constitution to ensure extra security.”

Vote YES on HJR5 “Citizen Voters Only”!