OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Legislation approved by the Senate on Wednesday would keep noncitizens from voting in Oklahoma elections.

According to officials, Senate Bill 377, authored by Senator Brent Howard, R-Altus, was approved to assist county election boards in removing noncitizens from the state’s voter registration rolls.

“Voting is our greatest freedom as U.S. citizens, and we must ensure that our elections are not disrupted by illegal voting,” Howard said. “This is an easy way to help county election boards identify noncitizens who may be registered to vote and remove them from the rolls. County court clerks are already required to submit monthly notifications of felony convictions to the county election board secretaries, so this will be a similar process.”

Sen. Howard says the bill would make the cancellation of voter registration necessary for anyone excused from jury duty for not being a U.S. citizen. It was also require county court clerks to create a list every month of everyone who falls under this category and hand that information over to their county election board secretary.

According to Sen. Howard, the bill would then require the secretary to cancel the registrations of those people and report them to the district attorney as well as the U.S. attorney for that county.

The measure will now move to the House for further review.