ATL Standard

Michael Lancaster, the Georgia director for Americans for Citizen Voting (ACV), has criticized Georgia state Rep. Michelle Au, claiming that she "is not standing up for her constituents" due to her lack of support for a resolution aiming to establish a constitutional amendment specifying that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections. This assertion comes amidst polling data indicating that 80% of Georgians support such an amendment. However, there are several jurisdictions in the state with pending legislation that could potentially allow non-citizens to vote in certain elections.

"Representative Au is not standing up for her constituents," said Lancaster, Georgia State Director. "In her public comments, she continues to intentionally distort the purpose of the Citizen-Only Voting Amendment. Her failure to support the resolution leaves the people of her district vulnerable to the whims of activist judges, and her efforts to obfuscate the issue seem to be a deliberate ploy to confuse her voters in order to protect her political career."

HR 780 and its Senate companion, SR 454, if passed, would have proposed an amendment to Georgia’s constitution clarifying that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in state and local elections. To appear on November’s ballot for Georgian voters' consideration, HR 780 required support from two-thirds of both houses of the Georgia legislature. Nevertheless, with 98 "yes" votes — including just two Democrats, Reps. Mack Jackson and Patty Stinson — offset by 61 votes against, four abstentions, and 17 excused absences, the resolution failed according to records from the Georgia General Assembly.

Au defended her vote against HR 780 on her Facebook page stating: "Non-citizen [sic] already cannot vote in Georgia. Period." She further challenged those who argue an amendment is needed "to be clear" and not just to feed into anti-immigrant election conspiracism. Her Facebook page also linked to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about the state GOP's pursuit of legislation combating illegal immigration following the Laken Riley murder case. The post excerpted a part of the article quoting Au saying: "anti-immigrant xenophobic fear-mongering rhetoric will be part of the GOP legislative and electoral strategy for the rest of the year."

RedState cited an 11 Alive 2016 report revealing that the Clarkston City Council voted unanimously in favor of launching a study to explore the possibility of allowing non-U.S. citizen residents to vote in city government elections. Then-Mayor Ted Terry argued that denying non-U.S. citizens the right to vote in Clarkston denied them representation and the ability to fully "participate in their democracy." Then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp disagreed, stating: "I think people have a lot of different opinions about who they might want to vote, but that has nothing to do with what the Constitution and the current laws on the books in the states say."

In a 2022 poll commissioned by ACV and conducted by Remington Research Group, 80 percent of likely Georgia voters said that only U.S. citizens should have the right to vote in Georgia elections. Additionally, 80 percent stated they would support an amendment to the Georgia State Constitution affirming that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections, while 66 percent said that Clarkston's move to open up voting to non-citizens made them more likely to support a citizens-only voting amendment.

Lancaster serves as the Georgia director for ACV, an organization dedicated to advocating for states amending their constitutions to explicitly state that only citizens can vote.