Rep. Claudia Tenney pitches amendment blocking non-citizens from voting

Upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) on Thursday proposed a constitutional amendment that would block non-US citizens from voting in any federal, state, or local elections.

“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights we have as American citizens,” Tenney told The Post upon introducing the legislation. “A citizen of another nation should not be allowed to vote in elections that will influence government officials and US laws at any level.”

Tenney added that she was “honored” to bring the amendment, which she hoped would “restore confidence in our elections.”

Proposed constitutional amendments must pass the House and Senate by a two-thirds vote and be approved by legislatures in 38 of the 50 states. The most recent amendment, governing congressional pay, was ratified in 1992.

Tenney made her proposal days after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to pass a series of reforms to national election laws, including the amendment allowing only US citizens the right to vote.

“Since 1996, federal law has required American citizenship as a prerequisite to voting in federal elections,” Raffensperger, said in a Monday letter to the GOP speaker. “However as of 2022, 16 municipalities in the US allowed noncitizens to vote in some or all local elections (two in California, 11 in Maryland, one in New York, and two in Vermont).”

Raffensperger added in his latter that just “four state constitutions explicitly require United States citizenship to vote in state and local elections.”

“The strongest and clearest codification to strengthen public trust and election integrity would be an amendment to the United States Constitution,” he concluded. “This is a measure that could not be easily undone by future legislatures, and one that would send a unifying message to American citizens whether born or naturalized: American elections are decided by American citizens.”

In 2021, New York’s City Council passed a law extending voting rights to non-citizens, which was struck down by a Staten Island judge the following year.

Potentially “thousands” of green card-holders in Manhattan have voted for years in city elections, a Board of Elections whistleblower told The Post in September.

So-called sanctuary cities like New York have been engulfed by waves of migrants seeking to resettle there as a result of President Biden’s lax border policies, with tens of thousands being granted asylum in the Big Apple. A record-breaking 2.4 million migrants crossed the southern border in 2022.

The influx has overwhelmed New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who declared a state of emergency in October 2022 and blamed the Biden administration for the surge.

Tenney and GOP Conference Chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik exclusively told The Post last month that Biden officials had secretly transported at least 30 migrants to the small upstate community of Jamestown.

Tenney was first elected to the House in 2016, was voted out in 2018 and re-elected in 2020 following a months-long dispute over mail-in ballots, eventually winning by a 109-vote margin after a prolonged court battle.