Georgia’s Citizenship Question

Can a person be a citizen of a state without being a citizen of the United States? That question is at the heart of a debate raging in Georgia right now, over whether or not a candidate is allowed to run for a state House seat. Here, Election Central takes a look at both sides of this controversial issue.

Who Is Maria Palacios?

The Democratic candidate for Georgia House District 29 is a 28-year-old PTA president named Maria Palacios. Palacios was born in Mexico but has lived in Georgia since she was a little girl. The problem? She didn’t become a legal United States citizen until June of last year. According to the Georgia state constitution, one must have been a citizen of the state for two years before he or she is eligible to run. Therefore, according to the Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp, Palacios is ineligible to run.

What is Citizenship?

Palacios’s lawyer and many Democrats, however, argue that the issue is more complex than that. Palacio has been a resident of Georgia since 1994, when she was four years old. Her parents entered the country illegally, but Palacio became a legal resident of the state in 2009. According to Palacio’s lawyer, a case can be made that legal residency and citizenship are essentially the same thing, and that when the state constitution talks about citizenship requirements, it really means residency requirements. But as Palacio was not a U.S. citizen until last year, Kemp and others disagree. They believe that it’s impossible to be a citizen of a state without being a citizen of the country.

A Critical District

Ms. Palacio’s case has much larger implications than just one candidate running in one district. Brian Kemp is a Trump-endorsed Republican running for Georgia governor on a strongly anti-immigration platform. As secretary of state, he has also pushed for voter ID laws that Democrats feel are too restrictive and unnecessarily limit voter access. Meanwhile, the Hispanic population of Georgia’s 29^th district is rapidly growing. For example, the city of Gainesville (which is located in the 29^th district) has gone from being less than eight percent Hispanic in 1990, to about 42 percent Hispanic today. But this growth isn’t represented in Congress, where Latinos are extremely underrepresented.

Palacio’s case is likely to have larger implications as more and more second-generation Hispanic candidates run for office. Furthermore, if Palacio is removed from the ballot, it will leave the Republican candidate running unopposed.

What’s Next?

Ms. Palacios’s lawyer plans to take her case all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court. But time is running out: absentee ballots in Georgia must be mailed in by September 18.

What Do You Think?: Do you agree with Maria Palacios that she should be allowed to run for Georgia’s 29^th House district, or do you agree with Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp that her name should be taken off of the ballot? Explain your position, remembering always to be respectful when expressing your opinion.