GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Voters can head to the polls to cast their ballots starting Thursday when early voting begins. They’ll also have a question to vote on.

A citizens-only voting constitutional amendment will be seen on the referendum of North Carolina ballots, clarifying that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and federal elections.

But political science experts say that’s already the case in North Carolina.

“It’s kind of like a constitutional amendment declaring that the sky is blue,” said Steven Greene, who is a political science professor at North Carolina State University. “We already have plenty in place that assure only citizens are voting in North Carolina.”

Both the House and Senate passed the proposal back in June to be on the ballot. Lawmakers say the bill changed the wording of the law to make it clearer.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with trying to enforce whether or not non-citizens actually somehow are successfully casting votes,” said Sen. Buck Newton (R), who voted for the amendment back in June. “What this does is simply make sure that only citizens are legally allowed to vote.”

Advocacy groups in North Carolina, like the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, have said the amendment may sow doubt in voters.

“It’s an amendment that is in search of a problem that doesn’t exist,” said President Jennifer McMillan Rubin.

Experts say the push to change the language may be because other places in the U.S. have allowed non-citizens to vote in some local elections.

“I haven’t heard of any localities in North Carolina trying to do this, but putting this on the ballot would foreclose that possibility,” said Greene.

There have only been eight cases of non-citizen voting that have been referred to the North Carolina State Board of Elections since 2015.

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