Voting is for citizens only, right?

Not exactly. It is not widely known that immigrants, or noncitizens, currently vote in local elections in over a half dozen cities and towns in the U.S.; nor that campaigns to expand the franchise to noncitizens have been launched in at least a dozen other jurisdictions from coast to coast over the past decade.

Immigrant Voting: Lessons from Narrow Defeats in 2010 and Next Steps

VOTING is not about CITIZENSHIPVoting is about who shall have a say

For every disempowered group in America's history, voting rights have been a vital tool for acquiring economic, social and civil rights and for expanding democracy. For African-Americans, women, and young men who were expected to go to war at 18 but were not yet allowed to vote, breaking down legal barriers to voting was a crucial point in the struggle for equality.

They were denied voting rights on the basis of sex and race – not citizenship

Voting not inextricably linked to citizenship; Not naturally connected

Voting is about who can select representatives; who controls government

Voting is mechanism to determine whose interests prevail — about political power

VOTING is not about CITIZENSHIPVoting is about who shall have a say

Local voting affirms the hallowed principle of the American Revolution: "no taxation without representation."

For most of this country's history-from the 1770s to the 1920s-forty states and federal territories permitted non-citizen residents to vote in local, state and federal elections, and to hold public offices such as alderman, coroner and school board member.

Three points to consider in thinking

It’s legal. The Constitution does not preclude it and the courts have upheld voting by noncitizens. Moreover, noncitizens enjoyed voting rights for most of U.S. history.

It’s rational. Moral and practical reasons to restore IVR, including notions of equal rights and treatment; and democracy principals

It’s feasible. Noncitizen voting is making a comeback today.

Some campaigns would provide voting rights only to the documented, while other campaigns would extend voting rights to all noncitizens regardless of status.  Some measures have been passed by a majority of the voters in a jurisdiction (ballot proposal) while other measures have been passed by elected representatives as local statutes/laws.

In 2010, for example, two cities held referendums on this question in Nov.: voters in San Francisco defeated a ballot proposal (Proposition D) by a margin of 54% to 46% that proposed to grants all parents and guardians of children in the public school system voting rights in school board elections, regardless of the status of the parent or guardians; and voters in Portland Maine, defeated also a ballot proposal by a margin of 53% to 47%, which would have granted voting rights in all municipal elections to legal residents.  That same month, Brookline Massachusetts passed a local law allowing legal permanent residents the right to vote in local elections and New York City legislation was introduced into the City Council that would enfranchise all legal residents the right to vote in all municipal elections.

Expand Democracy:

Reinstate Voting Rights for all New YorkersUntil 1804, New York

State allowed noncitizen immigrants to vote in federal, state and local elections.

Before Mayor Bloomberg’s re-centralization of the school system in 2003, noncitizen parents could vote in School Board elections, giving them a voice in the education debate.

A Local Law to amend the New York City charter, in relation to allowing lawfully present immigrants in New York City to vote in all New York City municipal elections

The intro. 410 call "Voting by Noncitizen Residents" was introduced into the NYC Council on November 18, 2010.

The main sponsor is Daniel Dromm (D-25), who is the Chair of the NYC Council Immigration Committee and at least a dozen other co-sponsors have already signed on, including Gale Brewer who heads the NYC Council Government Operations Committee, which has authority over election related legislation.

New York City is now home to 1,361,007 immigrants of voting age who are not yet citizens.

That means that 1 out of every 5 New Yorkers of voting age can’t vote.

Expand Democracy: Reinstate Voting Rights for all New Yorkers

Immigrants tend to be concentrated in certain neighborhoods

They live near, but not always among, native born people from similar racial or ethnic backgrounds

Asian and Hispanic immigrants tend to be in between white and black neighborhoods

Native voters in immigrant districts have more electoral impact than native voters elsewhere

Neighborhood Concentrations of Noncitizens

Not only do noncitizen residents pay billions in state income taxes, we are responsible for $229 billion in economic output in New York State: that's over one-fifth of the state's total GDP. We live here, we send our children to school here, we contribute to every aspect of the economic, cultural and social life of this city, yet we cannot vote in decisions that affect our daily lives.

Unrepresented immigrants are some of the communities most affected by the lack of affordable housing:

Immigrants make up two-thirds of the low-wage workers in New York.

Immigrants are less likely than other New Yorkers to live in publicly-subsidized affordable housing, and pay a higher portion of their income for rent.

Landlords often withhold basic services from immigrants, especially those who feel they cannot complain because of their legal status or language barriers. As a result, tenants are often displaced, allowing gentrification to continue.

It is PossibleExpanding the franchise is a rational and practical way to unite all members of our society toward a common goal of making New York City a better place. It acknowledges people’s membership in their communities and gives them a way to be actively engaged in improving their neighborhood. Far from being a substitute for citizenship, allowing noncitizen New Yorkers to vote is the best way to promote civic education and participation.

Legal Resident from:

Ecuador can vote in Madrid

Mexico can vote in Amsterdam

Bolivia can vote in Brussels

Dominican Republic can vote in Stockholm

Pakistan can vote in London

Nigeria can vote in Dublin

But none of them can vote in New York City