Voting: Should it be only for citizens?

The right to vote may seem inextricably linked to citizenship in the United States. But since America’s founding, 40 states – at different times – have allowed noncitizen voting in local, state, or federal elections; and while today it’s now illegal for noncitizens to vote at the federal and state level, more than a dozen cities do allow noncitizens (legally authorized to be in the U.S. or not, depending on the city) to vote in municipal elections. Citizenship, though, has not always guaranteed voting rights: Gender, race, and age have also been criteria.

Debate over the issue flared in December when New York City passed a law allowing 800,000 immigrants residing in the city legally to vote in city elections, and Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bill prohibiting noncitizen voting nationwide. The issue has become heated, too, with increasing visibility of the conservative far right “replacement theory,” which purports a conspiracy to diminish the influence of white people.

“The essence of democracy is that stakeholders should have a say,” says Ron Hayduk, a political scientist at San Francisco State University who studies immigrant voting rights. The question is, what makes “a legitimate stakeholder in a community?”

What are basic arguments for and against enfranchising noncitizens? 

An Atlantic-Leger poll in December found a majority of Americans do not support allowing noncitizens to vote. Opponents say that, to have that right, a person should make the effort to assume a citizen’s responsibilities, such as jury duty and renunciation of allegiance to other nations. Critics are also concerned with outside influence that could threaten national security; and they suggest that the citizenship test required of new citizens indicates some knowledge of civics to inform their voting.

“You need some marker ... to gauge people’s interest in and commitment to becoming an American,” says Stanley Renshon, a political scientist at the City University of New York. Noncitizens, he says, can already participate in politics in many ways, from protesting to donating to campaigns.

A range of arguments for enfranchising the estimated 22 million noncitizens living in the U.S. include the American Revolution slogan “no taxation without representation” and the notion that voting is a practice in civics that helps prospective citizens strengthen their community commitment.

“Immigrants tend to score low on most indicators of well-being: education, health care, housing, income, wealth,” says Professor Hayduk. Immigrant rights advocates say that if noncitizens were able to elect their representatives, it could move these outcomes in a more egalitarian direction.

Does noncitizen voting harm the rights and interests of citizens?

In recent times, noncitizen voting has had minimal impact nationally because local elections are the only place it is allowed, and the numbers are small, says Professor Hayduk.  

For example, in Takoma Park, Maryland, a city of 18,000 residents, which allows legal residents as well as those who immigrated illegally to vote, the noncitizen voter turnout falls between 50 and 70, says City Clerk Jessie Carpenter.

Even in San Francisco, where any noncitizen parent can vote in school board elections, the average noncitizen turnout is less than 100, says John Arntz, Department of Elections director there.

But when New York City allowed noncitizen voting in school board elections between the 1960s and the early 2000s, says Professor Hayduk, “noncitizen voting was a big contributing factor that tipped the balance of power,” at least in certain districts with high concentrations of immigrants. And that, he adds, “led to policy changes – increased funding for schools, the building of new schools.”   

Speaking hypothetically, Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, suggests that if “a reporter for Pravda, the propaganda arm of Russia, can vote in local elections in New York” it would make “no sense whatsoever.”

Is noncitizen voting feasible and secure to implement? 

In San Francisco, election workers set up a new system to register voters and process ballots, says Mr. Arntz, the election official. “It was not easy,” he says, but “once we got set up, it’s pretty straightforward.”

Takoma Park has experienced no logistical difficulties because since 1993, noncitizens have gone through the same voting process as citizens, says Ms. Carpenter.

One concern shared on all sides is that noncitizens could by accident or intention vote in state and federal elections. But Professor Hayduk says there has been “minuscule” evidence that fraud happens.