Who can and cannot vote in Kentucky elections.

A new House bill would add language to the Kentucky Constitution to make sure the answer to that question is crystal clear.

Our Clayton Dalton has more on House Bill 341.

You may have learned in grade school that voting is an exclusive right of citizens, but some municipalities across the country have granted non-citizens the right to vote in local elections.

Non-citizens include legal permanent residents as well as undocumented immigrants.

State Representative Michael Meredith, a Republican from Warren County, is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment to let Kentucky voters decide if non-citizens should be able to cast ballots.

Under Section 145 of the Constitution, it is unclear whether the General Assembly or local governments could extend voting rights to non-citizens of the United States in elections here.

The first clause creates a flaw on who must be allowed to vote in our elections, which are citizens of the United States who have lived within the state.

And the next three clauses specifically exclude groups of people from the voting public, since non-citizens are not specifically excluded in any of the language.

It is arguable that the General Assembly or local governments could allow non-citizens to vote in our elections.

State Representative Couture, a Herron, a Democrat from Louisville, expressed her hesitancy.

She said she wonders if this bill is necessary.

From the way I read the the Constitution, it already says that Nonso artisans cannot vote.

And so I guess my question is why do we need this?

And if it is geared specifically toward the local election such as school boards, why wouldn't we just put that in statute instead of doing a constitutional change?

Local governments in California, New York and Maryland have all passed bills or passed charter amendments to their local charters that have allowed non-citizens to vote in local or school elections in those jurisdictions.

And those things have been upheld by other courts in their state, because, again, it doesn't say that in specific we exclude non-citizens from voting.

It just says we have to allow citizens to vote in the Constitution.

And so this just cleans up what I think probably would be considered a bit of a loophole in that issue.

And I think it is important because of election integrity for it to be enshrined in the Constitution and not a statutory issue.

At least five states Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Ohio and Louisiana have amended their constitutions to explicitly prohibit non-citizens from voting.

House Bill 341 passed out of committee with ten yes votes and two pass votes.

The bill now heads to the full House for consideration there.

If House Bill 341 passes both the House and the Senate, it would need to be approved by voters before becoming an amendment to Kentucky's Constitution.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.