TOPEKA (KSNT) – In a night of Democratic Party wins, a Republican-backed constitutional amendment clarifying who has the right to vote received significant approval from Kansans. Political experts are breaking down why.
Kansans hit the polls Tuesday for the Nov. 3 general election. While the U.S. House representatives for Kansas all held onto their seats, Adam Hamilton (D) defeated incumbent Senator Roger Marshall (R) in the U.S. Senate while Democrats made major gains in the Kansas Legislature. Nationally, Democrats seized control of both the U.S. House and Senate in Washington D.C.
Several races remain tightly contested, with close-race audits announced for several, including the race for the next governor of Kansas, on Nov. 4. But while many in the Democratic Party enjoyed victories during the general election in the Sunflower State and beyond, a Republican-backed ballot measure to amend the Kansas Constitution passed without difficulty.
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Political experts are commenting on why the amendment passed and what’s next for Kansas.
Constitutional amendment proposal
Kansas lawmakers introduced the amendment proposal in the 2025 session of the state legislature as HCR 5004. Representatives approved it at a vote of 90-28 while senators gave it the green light with a 37-3 vote, sending it on to the secretary of state.
HCR 5004 required a two-thirds majority in both the Kansas House and Senate to pass. However, while the proposal passed in the Kansas Legislature, it still needed a majority of voters to approve it in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.
What does the amendment do?
The amendment makes a change to Section 1 of Article 5 of the Kansas Constitution, clarifying “that no person shall be deemed a qualified elector unless such person is a citizen of the United States, has attained the age of 18, and, unless a residency exception applies to such person, resides in the voting area in which such person seeks to vote.” This section, prior to the general election, stated that every citizen of the United States who is at least 18 and who resides in the voted area in which he or she seeks to vote is considered qualified to vote.
Vote totals
A majority of Kansans voted in favor of the constitutional amendment during the general election, with the measure gaining the approval of almost two-thirds of participating voters.
- Amendment vote totals
- ‘Yes’ votes – 669,694/63.7%
- ‘No’ votes – 381,975/36.3%
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Political experts weigh in
We got in touch with Washburn University Professor of Political Science Bob Beatty and Emporia State University Professor of Social Sciences, Sociology & Criminology Michael Smith to learn more about the constitutional amendment. Both shared their thoughts on the amendment and voter sentiment toward the proposal.
“The Constitutional Amendment was not really controversial,” Beatty said in a statement to 27 News. “Some Democrats complained that it was unneeded, but it essentially did what federal and state law already said, which is only citizens can vote, but it turned it into a negative statement, non-citizens can’t vote. The intent in doing that was probably to avoid allowing local entities such as townships or towns to allow green card holders to vote on local issues, a highly improbable occurrence to be sure.”
“It seems that Kansas voters do agree that only U.S. citizens should vote in Kansas elections, however, they’re not terribly worried about it,” Smith said in a statement to 27 News. “When given the chance to vote directly on this, the voters chose to restrict the language in the state constitution– but few if any polls showed that this was one of the top issues on voters’ minds as they went to vote. What was on voters’ minds, was the economy.”
Smith said it’s not clear yet how the amendment will come into play with future elections. He said the amendment may help the state defend restrictive election laws in court, but only with lawsuits at the state level.
“Voter fraud is very rare in the modern-day U.S., and voting by undocumented immigrants is virtually non-existent,” Smith said. “There is no evidence of voter fraud changing the result of any U.S. election in modern times.”
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Beatty said the amendment could lead to proof of citizenship needing to be displayed in order to participate in Kansas elections.
“Critics have argued that it [the constitutional amendment] could lead to the legislature requiring proof of citizenship to vote although the proponents said that wasn’t the reason for the change,” Beatty said.
You can learn more about the constitutional amendment on the SOS website by clicking here. To check the full list of 2026 general election results, click here.
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