In a vote that will be closely watched nationwide, Santa Ana, the county seat of Orange County, could become the first city in California to allow non-U.S.citizens to vote in municipal elections.
Voters in the city of about 310,000 residents will decide on Measure DD when they cast their Nov. 5 ballots.
In California, non-U.S.citizens are currently permitted to vote in school board elections in San Francisco. Oakland passed a similar measure, but has not yet put it into practice. That includes permanent residents, work visa holders, refugees and undocumented immigrants. Allowing votes to be cast by non-citizens in the U.S. actually has a long history (more on that soon.)
That said, Santa Ana’s move comes at a time when Republicans have made opposing voting by non-citizens one of their platforms going into the November elections. In Congress, conservatives have advocated for the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, even tying it to the government spending package. And just a short distance away in Huntington Beach, earlier this year voters passed a voter ID measure that Gov. Gavin Newsom has since moved to block.
The push to allow non-citizens to vote in Santa Ana marks the polar opposite. If Measure DD passes, political science experts told LAist they can see it offering a blueprint for other cities to follow — depending on how it plays out in practice.
History of noncitizen voting in the country
Louis DeSipio, UC Irvine professor of political science and Chicano/Latino studies, said in the late 1800s and early 1900s, around half of the states in the nation allowed non-U.S. citizens to vote in state elections.
The motivation for states, he said, was “to encourage immigrants to pick living in one state over another, and they felt that the sort of encouragement to move to a state that allowed noncitizen voting was that opportunity to be able to participate in governance.”
Beginning in the 1900s, DeSipio said this trend declined. Reformers called for taking elections out of the hands of politicians and placing them into the hands of nonpartisan bodies, like the electoral commissions of today.
Fernando Guerra, director of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said the “red scare” in the 1940s and '50s contributed to the blocking of non-U.S. citizens from voting, as Sen. Joseph McCarthy used fear tactics and intimidation to campaign against the spread of Communism.
Yes, non-U.S. citizens can be allowed to vote, in some instances
While federal law explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, that ban does not extend to the local and state level. Legislation passed in 1996, known as The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, provides provisions for noncitizens to vote in non-federal elections if they are "authorized to vote for such other purpose under a State constitution or statute or a local ordinance.”
While still rare, such provisions are currently in practice.
In addition to measures in place in San Francisco and Oakland, three cities in Vermont allow non-U.S. citizens to cast ballots. Non-U.S. citizens can also vote in some cities in Maryland (in Takoma Park that dates back three decades), as well as in Washington D.C., where a voting measure recently passed. These votes are limited to local elections and school board races.
Despite being afforded the right to vote, turnout and registration by non-citizens remains low.
The case for Santa Ana opening voting
Current registration data for Orange County shows about 132,000 of Santa Ana's 310,000 residents are registered to vote in the upcoming election. About 41% of Santa Ana's resident were born outside of the U.S., according to census data.
Laura Pantoja has been living in Santa Ana for 28 years. Panoja, who immigrated from Mexico and is not a U.S. citizen, said she believed that if voters approve Measure DD, “it would be a model to follow for a democratic system where all people are heard.”
“When people listen to us, it gives us a feeling of belonging and participation that is very important for building a community,” Pantoja said.
Sarai Arpero, also a non-U.S. citizen, has lived in Santa Ana for more than 20 years. During this time, she said she has seen representatives come and go in the city council, in various positions of power, and things haven't improved.
“Things have gotten a bit worse, in many areas, in health, in security,” she said.
If Measure DD passes, she said, it will “create a balance and equilibrium” in local politics.
“We are not given a Social Security number to work or permission to work with dignity. But we are given an identification number, the ITIN, to file taxes every year,” Arpero said.
Having the ability to vote, Arpero said, will allow her to have a say in housing, security and economic policies in the city. She said expanding voting to non-citizens would mean elected officials would better represent communities instead of being pushed by people with the money to influence elections.
The case against Measure DD
Those who oppose the measure — including Mayor Valerie Amezcua — say the city would be forced to pay to make costly changes in how elections are run in the city. The onus on running elections in the city is currently with the Orange County Registrar of Voters. If the measure passes, opponents say, the city would have to run their own elections.
They say those extra costs would take money away from first responder budgets, as well as from city services, like fixing potholes.
In May, specific language on the ballot measure was challenged in court by critics who called it “unlawfully partisan” because it included references to "taxpayers and parents," which critics said was a bid to cast the measure in a more favorable light. A judge agreed and ordered the language to be reworded on the ballot measure.
James Lacy, who brought the lawsuit against the Santa Ana ballot measure, previously challenged non-U.S. citizen voting efforts in Oakland and San Francisco.
Lacy, speaking on LAist's AirTalk radio program, said he does not live in Santa Ana, but is encouraging friends to vote against the measure because "when you disconnect the vote from citizenship, what you do is you devalue citizenship and you devalue the aspirational quality of citizenship and belonging."
What's next
UC Irvine's DeSipio said that if Santa Ana’s measure passes, it could lead to ballot measures in other cities in Southern California, particularly those with large longterm immigrant populations.
"Where immigrants are connected to the local community, and have been involved in the civic life of those communities for a long time, you'll see more interest in exploring non-citizen voting," he said.
Loyola Marymount's Guerra said other cities will likely take a wait-and-see approach, noting they’ll want to know how Santa Ana implements the measure. They'll also keep a close eye on potential lawsuits opposing the measure.
Guerra said there are five key factors other cities will consider:
- Is it the right thing to do?
- Will it pass?
- Will it survive a legal challenge?
- What will be the implemented cost?
- Do you want to do this in your jurisdiction?
Editor's note: Fernando Guerra is a lifetime trustee of Southern California Public Radio, LAist's parent company.
Associate Producer Gillian Morán Pérez contributed to this report.
