Democratic officials who run the village of Yellow Springs, a progressive college town near Dayton, are persisting in their effort to legalize noncitizen voting.
Mayor Pam Conine (D) is pushing for the enactment of a state constitutional amendment that would actualize the policy. Yellow Springs voters approved a referendum in 2019 allowing dozens of noncitizen residents of the village to participate in local and state elections, but the measure never went into effect.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) instructed the Greene County Board of Elections only to accept voter registrations from U.S. citizens. When Conine told the press she and other Yellow Springs leaders want the state constitution changed so the 2019 policy can be reinstated, LaRose took to Twitter to denounce the idea and to urge Buckeye Staters to pass Issue 2 next November. The statewide ballot question to which the secretary referred would amend the state constitution to clarify that only citizens may vote in any Ohio election.
“I was able to stop this foolish idea once, but now Yellow Springs is at it again … ,” LaRose wrote. “THIS is why we need Ohio to vote YES on State Issue 2 this November!”
In remarks to reporters, Conine pressed her case for expanding the franchise to noncitizens.
“We believe that this adds value to our village,” she said. “These are folks who are business owners, who have children in our schools, who pay taxes and are very much a fabric of our community.”
She reiterated the contention officials held in 2019 that the Ohio Constitution permits municipalities to exercise “home rule” authority to “exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their limits such local police, sanitary, and other similar regulations, as are not in conflict with general laws.”
LaRose rejected the home-rule argument insofar as Article V, Section 1 of the state constitution explicitly states that eligible voters are U.S. citizens and therefore the village was attempting to contravene state law.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Ohio Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Yellow Springs” by U.S. State Department.
