Voters in a dozen states will decide ballot measures this year regulating access to elections.

The measures generally fall into two categories: stricter limits on noncitizen voting and requiring voter ID to cast a ballot.

States with one or both issues on the ballot include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia, according to Ballotpedia tracking.

Oklahoma voters in August approved State Question 846 with nearly 55% of the vote, enshrining the state’s voter ID law in the constitution.

The push for stricter voting access rules comes as President Donald Trump pushes to restrict vote-by-mail and continues to criticize the reliability of America’s voting systems, despite there being little evidence of widespread voter fraud. Trump has pressured Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would end mail-in balloting for most voters and mandate proof of citizenship and ID to register to vote in federal elections.

Pew Research has found broad support for voter photo ID requirements and majority support for voting by mail.

California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington are the eight states that conduct all-mail elections.

It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. All state constitutions make U.S. citizenship a qualification for voting in state elections, although not always explicitly.

A handful of localities in California, Maryland and Vermont, along with the District of Columbia, allow noncitizens to vote in local elections such as city council and school board races. Noncitizens may also vote in local school council elections in Chicago.

States that currently do not prohibit noncitizen voting at the local level are Arkansas, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Washington, according to Ballotpedia.

The group Americans for Citizen Voting has been pushing states to amend their constitutions to make it explicit that only U.S. citizens can cast ballots in any election.

“The end goal is if a state wants to allow noncitizen voting on any level in that state, they will have to put it to the people and amend the constitution to do it,” said Jack Tomczak, the organization’s spokesperson.

According to Ballotpedia, 18 states now have constitutional prohibitions on noncitizen voting; eight such measures were passed in 2024.

Read more: Voters in 8 states approve noncitizen voting bans

They are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

This November, voters in Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia will decide whether to amend their state constitutions accordingly. A similar change to state law is on the ballot in Alaska.

Americans for Citizen Voting tried to get a similar measure on Michigan’s ballot but was unsuccessful.

Opponents of these ballot measures say they are unnecessary and could be a pretext for passing stricter voter ID laws.

In a statement opposing Arkansas’s constitutional amendment, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families said it is “fearful that, if voters approve the proposed amendment, the General Assembly could use the amendment as the impetus to pass new restrictive proof of citizenship legislation in 2027, establishing requirements that many qualified voters could not meet.”

Some of the 2026 ballot measures would also require voters to prove their identities.

Arizona’s ballot measure, Proposition 144, would enshrine the state’s voter ID requirement in the constitution while also making explicit that only U.S. citizens can register to vote.

California’s Proposition 39 would require voter ID for poll-based voting or the last four digits of an approved government ID to vote by mail. The measure is supported by the California Republican Party and opposed by organizations like the ACLU and Common Cause.

“This initiative isn’t about election security; it’s about erecting barriers that will keep eligible Californians from exercising their fundamental right to vote as citizens,” Abdi Soltani, executive director of the ACLU of Northern California, said in a statement earlier this year.

Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio told State Affairs last month that the initiative “is a bipartisan approach to implementing voter ID without imposing burdens on voters, while improving public trust and confidence in our elections.”

Nevada’s Question 7, which mirrors California’s, is on the ballot for its second required approval after passing in 2024.

Colorado’s proposed constitutional amendment would require mail-in ballots to include the voter’s signature and the last four digits of their Social Security number or their REAL ID number.

North Carolina’s would enshrine an existing statutory requirement that mail-in voters prove their identification. Currently, voters can do that by including a photocopy of their ID with their ballot.

Ohio’s Issue 3 would also enshrine the state’s current voter ID law in the state constitution.

Thirty-six states have voter ID laws, according to Ballotpedia, but only 24 of them require photo ID. Supporters say requiring proof of identity helps prevent voter fraud. Opponents call it an unnecessary barrier to voting.