Should noncitizens be allowed to vote in local elections? Over several hundred years of American history, that question has become more clouded as to what the answer should be.
Los Angeles may become the latest city to allow noncitizens to vote after the City Council voted to advance a measure that will allow Angelenos to answer that question during the November midterms.
Even if it passes, with the Trump administration in charge in Washington, the question becomes whether noncitizens want to give their information to any public entities.
The argument for
“The argument for it actually goes back to the founding, effectively no taxation without representation,” Justin Levitt, election law professor at Loyola Marymount University Law School, told Straight Arrow.
Noncitizens are people on visas, green cards and more.
They are still required to obey laws and pay taxes like any citizen, but in most places have no say in who governs them.
“Noncitizens are part of the community,” Charles Stewart, professor of political science at MIT, told Straight Arrow. “They pay taxes, their kids are in the schools, they are contributing to the economy, and they’re as much a part of the community as anybody else in the city.”
As America celebrates 250 years, the reality is that the founders had no issues with citizenship when it came to voting because the bar was much higher.
When the United States was a young country, there were significant barriers to voting. Those barriers included race, gender, property ownership and more.
Citizenship was not considered an issue.
“For the first roughly 75 years of American history, it generally was not required that you be a citizen to vote in American elections,” Stewart said.
Times have changed in the 21st century.
This plan from the Los Angeles City Council gives citizens the chance to vote on whether noncitizens among them get to vote.
It’s not guaranteed to pass, nor is it officially on the ballot just yet.
Lawyers need to draft the measure, and it will require one more vote from the city council. Then, it’s up to citizens to determine whether their noncitizen neighbors get a say in their community come November.
Several municipalities already allow this, including San Francisco and Oakland, as well as more in Maryland and Vermont.
“It’s really more of a modern thing to expect that noncitizens wouldn’t be voting,” Levitt said.
The argument against
Whether the measure ends up on the ballot or never sees the light of day, it will almost certainly grab the attention of the Trump administration.
They have claimed fraud in the most recent California and Los Angeles elections without proof.
“Will the administration make claims about voter fraud?” Levitt said. “The answer is going to be yes, but that doesn’t depend on this measure.”
One actual concern over a measure like this is the information passed down to voters.
Because some may be allowed to vote in municipal elections, there could be some confusion over voting in state and federal elections.
“There are some logistical challenges to making sure that noncitizens know they can, if this passes, only vote in city elections, but not state and federal elections,” Levitt said.
Experts Straight Arrow spoke with also said some people may share concerns that people would immigrate to places where they can vote.
“’I’d have the opportunity to vote on LA school board elections,’ is pretty low on the list of pros and cons,” Levitt said. “I don’t actually think that anybody’s making the decision to come here based on that.”
Noncitizen concerns
The Trump administration has targeted immigrants in major cities like LA since the president came back into power last year.
Even if this measure passes, there’s unlikely to be a rush of noncitizens to register their information with a government that looks at them unfavorably.
“I suspect that advocates of the question are overestimating the desire of noncitizens to participate,” Stewart said.
Those noncitizens would need to register to vote and provide certain information.
That could change over the years, especially if a friendlier administration takes power at the federal level.
“This may be something for the longer term, where different groups feel more comfortable over time,” Levitt said.
While the Trump administration may look upon this unfavorably, is there anything they can actually do to stop it?
“No,” Stewart said.
Round out your reading
- Could a common dietary supplement accelerate Alzheimer’s?
- NY AG Letitia James gets hundreds of taunts, racial slurs in ICE public reporting portal.
- As Musk becomes the first trillionaire, historian sees warning signs.
- An experimental weight loss drug is so effective, many Americans don’t care it’s not FDA approved.
- How search engine optimization reduced Simone Biles to an ‘NFL wife’.