By Andy O’Brien 

The Maine Legislature is considering an amendment to the Maine Constitution that would ban noncitizen voting in Maine, a practice that is already prohibited under state law. LD 175, “RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Ensure That Only Citizens of the United States May Participate in Elections,” is sponsored by Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Dist. 64, Auburn). Passage would prohibit noncitizens from voting in any county, municipal, state, or school board elections. 

On Feb. 3, Libby acknowledged in testimony before the Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs that Maine law already requires that a voter hold U.S. citizenship in order to vote in state and federal elections. However, Libby’s concern is local elections – there is no constitutional provision explicitly barring noncitizen voting in local elections in Maine. 

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 “Across the country, certain jurisdictions have moved to allow noncitizens to participate in municipal elections, setting a dangerous precedent that threatens to erode public confidence in our electoral system. This amendment will close any potential loophole by codifying citizen-only voting at the constitutional level, preventing future policy changes that could undermine this bedrock principle,” Libby said. 

To support her effort, Libby referenced an unsubstantiated claim made to the Office of the Maine Attorney General by the conservative Maine Policy Institute. The claim was that six noncitizens voted in the 2024 elections in Maine. The attorney general’s office invited the Maine Policy Institute to produce evidence to back their claim, but they declined. 

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, whose office oversees elections in Maine, testified against LD 175, citing a 1996 federal law signed by President Bill Clinton that bars noncitizens from voting in municipal elections. A 2018 effort to allow non-citizen voting in local elections in Portland never made it onto the ballot.  

Bellows noted that the “lie of noncitizen voting” in Maine has persisted for many years despite a lack of evidence. She quoted Sean Morales-Doyle of the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, who said last fall, “Both domestic and foreign folks are spreading these lies in order to undermine faith in American elections – some of them with the hope of overturning the result if they’re not happy about it.”  

In opposition to LD 175, the ACLU of Maine argued that anyone who pays taxes, lives in a community, and sends their children to local schools deserves to have a voice in how their local community is governed: “If towns and cities in Maine wish to amend their charters to give their residents a voice in municipal elections, the legislature should not create a Constitutional barrier. The committee should not give in to the urge to stigmatize and de-value noncitizens, and should instead turn its attention to proactive legislation that expands rights and freedoms.”