Miami, Florida: Florida Citizen Voters held a signing ceremony today with naturalized citizens delivering the final signatures in favor of a Florida constitutional amendment to specifically preserve voting for only citizens. With these final signatures, more than 1.5 million Floridians have signed the initiative petition, nearly double the signatures needed to qualify the amendment for the 2020 Florida general election ballot.
Spurred by cities in California, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and elsewhere that are currently allowing or seeing to allow Non-Us Citizens to legally vote, the Florida initiative is part of a national effort to place similar constitutional amendments to the ballot throughout the United States, guaranteeing elections will be specifically limited to US citizens.
Gabriel Alfonzo, a board member and naturalized citizen from socialist Venezuela, stated, “We, are here because of the growing threat from the extreme left, to get cities across America to allow non-citizens to legally vote. It’s happening in Kamala Harris’ California, Bernie Sanders’ Vermont, Barack Obama’s Illinois, and Hillary Clinton’s New York. I’m proud to have earned my right to be a US citizen and my right to vote. I don’t want non-citizens who didn’t do the work to be cancelling out my vote.”
The final signers in Florida included people from countries across the globe, several continents and ethnicities;
Gabriel Alfonzo – Naturalized citizen from Venezuela
Jose Montas – Naturalized citizen from Dominican Republic
Oscar Gomez – Naturalized citizen from Nicaragua
Jose Montas, the final signer, said, “I am so gratified, to stand here with my fellow citizens, people who have made the journey, throw off physical and emotional ties to their former countries and chosen to become fully committed United States citizens. I’m proud to add my name to the million plus in Florida to this vital amendment.”
Neither the United States Constitution nor Florida’s Constitution specifically require US citizenship to legally vote due to inclusive language, “Every Citizen…shall be an elector…”
This inclusive phrase clarifies only who can vote in Florida, not who cannot legally vote. It is this loophole that opens the door to non-citizen voting. Each state currently allowing non-citizens to vote have the same language in their constitutions. The Citizen Voters amendment fixes this loophole with just a three-word change. The entire amendment simply strikes the words “Every citizen…” and inserts the words, “Only a citizen…shall be an elector…”
Florida (by initiative petition) and Alabama (by legislative referral) are the first two states to put the measure to voters on the 2020 ballot. Citizen Voters plans to pass the measure in an additional 12 states in 2020, bringing the total to 14 states.
The North Dakota Citizen Voters Amendment passed there in November 2018, with an overwhelming 66% support. Citizen petition efforts are under way in Missouri, Michigan and Colorado with other states soon to be announced. Legislative referral efforts are planned Georgia, Iowa, Oklahoma and elsewhere.
John Loudon, National Chairman of Citizen Voters, concluded the signing ceremony saying, “Next year is the 100th Anniversary of Women in the USA gaining suffrage rights after a very hard-fought battle. I am not content to stand by and let extremists dilute the votes of these committed, naturalized citizens, especially women, part of my family’s legacy. I am thrilled to report, that with these signatures, we have collected over 1.5 million petition signatures – well in excess of signatures needed to qualify for the November 2020 ballot. ”
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