Santa Ana May Expand Voting Rights To Noncitizens

Carlos Perea is a DACA recipient and has lived in Santa Ana since he was 14. And in 2020, he became the first undocumented resident to be appointed to a city commission.

Now, he may be allowed to vote in city elections under a ballot measure being drafted at the behest of the city council.

At Tuesday's meeting, city officials proposed a ballot measure asking residents if they would approve noncitizen voting in the November 2024 elections. But the council majority asked staff to come back with a revised ballot measure that would do more — ask voters to amend the city charter to allow noncitizen voting.

Perea, the executive director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Injustice who has has been advocating for expanded voting rights, said what the city council asked for was different than what officials proposed in a key way.

“The city attorney essentially brought forward a ballot measure that was an advisory measure that simply would ask, do the people of Santa Ana want this, and that's not what we were asking for,” Perea said. “What we were calling for was for a ballot measure that was legally binding and that will amend the city charter to expand the electorate in Santa Ana.”

Perea said that almost one in four residents living in Santa Ana are noncitizens.

“Dozens of residents that have come out to speak in the council meetings in support of noncitizen voting are themselves noncitizens and so this is something that we are demanding,” he said. “We're not begging, we're demanding. We contribute to the city, we pay taxes and the basic premise of why this nation was founded was no taxation without representation.”

Councilmember Thai Viet Phan, the first Vietnamese American and Asian American elected to the Santa Ana City Council, was in favor of expanding voting rights to noncitizen residents because it would give a “voice” to everyone.

“No one can say that we do not care about noncitizens in the city of Santa Ana. We care. And part of caring is to ensure that your voices matter,” she said.

Mayor Valerie Amezcua was a staunch opponent.

“We should be doing up here, creating jobs, bringing in businesses, generating revenue, looking at what the city is going to look like in two, five, 10 years," she said. "That's what we should be doing. That's mature, responsible leadership."

Amezcua also said that the ballot measure would violate California law and expose the city to potential litigation like that filed in Oakland.

California voting requirements and what happened in NorCal

Conservative group US Justice Foundation sued Oakland after they allowed noncitizens to vote in school board elections, claiming they violated the California constitution.

California’s voting eligibility includes that an person must be a US citizen, a California resident and aged 18 or older. Under California law, a voter can also be serving a state or federal prison sentence for a felony.

The group also sued San Francisco after their residents passed an ordinance in 2016 that allowed noncitizen parents of children in local schools to vote in school board elections. Measure N, as it was known on the ballot, passed with a 54% majority.

Last July, San Francisco’s Superior Court found that the city's ordinance violated the California constitution, rescinding the noncitizen parents' right to vote.

Noncitizens included permanent residents, work visa holders, refugees and undocumented immigrants, and in the ruling, the Superior Court also prohibited the city from allowing noncitizens the right to vote in other elections.

Then, in August, an appeals court ruled that Measure N did not in fact violate the California Constitution, restoring noncitizen parents' right to vote. The decision also upheld a decision by Oakland voters that granted noncitizens the right to vote in school board elections.

Appellate Justice Mark Simons wrote in his ruling that “extending the franchise to noncitizen parents or guardians of school-age children will increase parental involvement in schools, which will in turn improve educational outcomes.”

The group who sued San Francisco and Oakland could have appealed the decision but told the San Francisco Chronicle they wouldn't because the judges were mostly appointed by Democrats. However, the group said if another California city moved to expand voting rights to noncitizens, they would sue at the federal level.

What does federal law say?

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. But the law also states that noncitizens can vote if they are "authorized to vote for such other purpose under a State constitution or statute or a local ordinance.”