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SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO.com) — South Dakota will be one of the voting rights battlefields this year with a proposed Constitutional Amendment on the November ballot. President Trump is pressing Congress to approve the SAVE act, which requires proof of citizenship and a valid photo ID to vote in federal elections. Last year’s legislature referred the “Citizens Only Voting Amendment” to the ballot.
Avi Fortenberry – the President of American Citizen Voting – moved to the United States from Brazil as a young girl. She had a green card and was able to legally work in the U.S. but wanted to be able to vote when she was a young woman. She went through the Citizenship process to gain the right to vote – a process she describes as grueling and expensive. But, she says it was needed in order for her to gain an understanding of the nation, its laws and the way the process was designed to work.
Her organization is supporting the Citizens Only Voting Amendment across the country. Fortenberry says there are currently 22 states that now allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.
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