Poll sign said only citizens can vote. KC voters wonder ‘what was the reason’
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- “Only U.S. citizens eligible to vote” sign posted at check-in desk at polling station.
- Election directors say signs were distributed in 2024 and presence varied by county.
- Advocates call the signs unnecessary and potentially intimidating to voters.
Voters at a Clay County polling location were greeted with a sign at the election judges’ polling station.
“Only United States Citizens are eligible to vote,” the sign, which carries the Missouri Secretary of State’s election department logo, says. Underneath it cites the section of the Missouri Constitution on voter qualifications.
The precinct at Gashland Baptist Church in Kansas City welcomed over 400 voters in the April 7 municipal election, according to preliminary turnout data. Some took issue with what they saw as a politically-motivated sign at the table where voters checked in.
“What was the reason for posting a sign that says people who are not eligible to vote cannot vote?” Ken Nelson, who voted at Gashland Baptist Church, said. “It would be illegal to sell drugs at a polling place or shoot a gun at a polling place or set fire to the polling place, but there’s no signs that explain that those are crimes also.”
Carolyn Kobolt McClure, who cast her ballot at Gashland Baptist, said she was taken aback by the sign and questioned why only one voter qualification was listed.
“I immediately thought it’s the beginning of voter suppression,” McClure said.
Tiffany Ellison, Democratic director of the Clay County Election Board, told The Star that the sign should have been displayed on a board with other state-issued messages to voters. It includes things like sample ballots, fliers on voters’ rights or any statutory updates related to the voter process.
The boards are visible, but are usually set up off to the side, Ellison said.
“I have never had them at our check-in station, so we would never instruct our poll workers to put them at the check-in,” Ellison said. “This incident is something we’re going to ask the poll workers about and figure out why the sign was moved to that location.”
Tammy Brown, the Republican director of the Jackson County Election Board, confirmed that the signs were present at every polling place they oversee. Shawn Kieffer, Republican director of the Kansas City Election Board, said to the best of his knowledge, there were no signs about citizenship in the city’s polling locations.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s Office didn’t respond to a list of questions at the time this story was published.
Signs distributed in 2024
The signs were distributed in 2024, according to multiple election officials who spoke with The Star. That same year, Missouri voters were asked to amend the constitution to affirm that only citizens were eligible to vote in a ballot measure that also banned ranked choice voting.
Clinton Jenkins, president of the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities, said there was some concern among election officials at the time that the language was similar to the proposed constitutional amendment.
“At the time, there was a concern that the sign contained similar wording to Amendment 7 and could be considered electioneering by some voters. After that election passed, the concern may have been removed in some counties that have chosen to post the signage,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said election officials must display fair ballot language for statewide issues and a flier on voters’ rights. Local election officials have some leeway on what they’re able to post. The signs on citizenship weren’t mandatory, Jenkins said, and he wasn’t sure how many counties opted to display them.
The constitutional amendment banning noncitizen voting was largely symbolic “ballot candy,” a noncontroversial policy that’s attached to more controversial proposals. Missouri’s Constitution has prevented noncitizens from voting since 1924.
Denise Lieberman, director and general counsel for the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, an organization that champions accessible elections, said the signs serve no purpose, since they’re tied to eligibility, which would be vetted by election officials before a ballot is cast.
“While it is true that Missouri law requires Missourians to be United States citizens in order to register to vote, and therefore the sign was not inaccurate, it does concern me, because the sign feels intimidating,” Liberman said.
Lieberman said she doesn’t recall any complaints received by the voter protection hotline run by the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition since they were distributed in 2024.
Noncitizen voting is rare
The Heritage Foundation’s database of election fraud records 30 cases in Missouri between 1982 and 2025. Only one of those cases involved a noncitizen voting.
Leonardo Lleras-Rodriguez, a Cuban national residing in St. Joseph, pleaded guilty to casting a fraudulent election ballot in 2017. He voted in six elections between 2010 and 2014, according to the plea agreement.
Despite the apparent infrequency of noncitizen voting, it has risen as a political issue in the wake of President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.
In neighboring Kansas, voters will be asked in November to amend the state Constitution to explicitly bar noncitizens from voting, where the measure is also symbolic. There, like in Missouri, there are a few examples of noncitizens voting.
Heritage Foundation’s database in Kansas shows only one recorded case of voter fraud, and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach testified he identified five noncitizens who cast a ballot in a 2018 court case.
More recently, the mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, Joe Ceballos, faces felony charges and possible deportation for voting as a noncitizen.
