Wisconsin Senate Approves Pair of Proposed State Constitutional Amendments

Thursday, January 27th, 2022 -- 2:02 PM

(AP) The Wisconsin Senate passed a pair of proposed state constitutional amendments Tuesday.

One of the passed amendments says that only citizens can vote in elections. The Wisconsin Constitution guarantees that every U.S. citizen age 18 and over is a qualified elector. But it does not specifically say that only U.S. citizens are qualified to vote in state or local elections.

Republican backers of the measure say that ambiguity needs to be fixed through a constitutional amendment. The second passed amendment power to spend federal money sent to Wisconsin would be taken away from the governor and given to the Legislature.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers did veto a Republican bill last year that would have required the Legislature to sign off on his plans for spending $4.5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money coming to the state.

The Republican-authored amendments approved Tuesday must also pass the Assembly this year and both houses of the Legislature next session before they would go to voters to decide. Gov. Evers cannot veto constitutional amendments.

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