By BARBARA SIMPSON
Given all the issues facing people today, I suspect that most of us don’t think about our right to vote. If you do vote, you probably just take it for granted. If you don’t vote, that means you probably don’t think about the right to vote at all — more’s the pity. You should.
Do you think that just anyone in the country has the right to vote? Anyone? Citizen or not? Are they qualified to vote just because they are here?
If you think that, think again.
It matters whether you are a citizen. If you are a citizen of this country, the right to vote is a key privilege. You have that right through the 26th Amendment to the Constitution. It states that the right to vote is given to “citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older.” Reinforcing that, federal law specifically forbids non-citizens from voting in federal elections.
If you’re wondering about local elections, consider that the California Constitution specifically states that to vote in the state a person must be a citizen of the U.S., be 18 years of age, and be a California resident.
You would think that the language is clear and that people in local governments would have no problem understanding what they mean.
Think again.
There has a been a flurry of efforts on the part of local governments, and not just in California, to allow non-citizens to vote in various elections. A good number of the proposals deal with school issues, but others deal with city elections.
Just weeks ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to allow non-citizens to work in government positions, as long as the job doesn’t conflict with state or federal law although proof of citizenship will still be required to work in the County Sheriff’s Department.
Sponsored by perennial liberals, Board Chair Hilda L. Solis and co-authored by Board Member Sheila Kuehl, the policy “aims to better represent the ‘community’ in city government.”
Ricardo Garcia, L.A. County Public Defender, said requiring citizenship to work for the city government is tantamount to discrimination based on “cultural, racial, ethnic, or religious characteristics.”
He added that barriers to employment based on those characteristics “are contrary to our core values.”
It seems he hasn’t read the Constitution lately.
In the San Francisco area, the idea of non-citizen voting is rampant, dealing with voting in city and county elections as well as school board issues.
In San Francisco last month, Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer threw out a city ordinance allowing non-citizen parents of school-age children to vote in school board elections. The East Bay Times reports that the city is appealing the decision.
Across the bay, the people in Oakland are facing the question of whether non-citizens, who are city residents, and who are parents, legal guardians, or legal caregivers of a “qualifying minor child” can vote in school board elections.
What does all that mean? Those are just some of the troubling issues in this proposal and at this point, there are no definite answers. The measure also raises the question of whether a person with no children can vote in the election. That has never been an issue before, and it appears it will be up to the courts to decide.
But Oakland and San Francisco aren’t the only Bay Area cities embroiled in this issue. The city of San Jose is also facing the same challenge. Two council members are pushing for a change in voting procedures which would likely open city elections as well as school elections to non-citizens. A specific proposal hasn’t been presented at this point, but it is expected.
Mayor Sam Liccardo has recommended postponing the discussion on the issue until the courts sort out what is lawful. Time will tell, but clearly, the issue is not going away.
Other issues about voting have surfaced in the Bay Area — in 2016 in Berkeley and in 2020 in Oakland. Both passed measures allowing 16 and 17-year-old students to vote in school board elections. At this point, neither of these measures have been put into effect but there is no doubt they will face legal challenges before they would become usual practice.
While it isn’t surprising that issues like this are rampant in liberal California, the concept of non-citizen voting is raising its head across the country. For example, last November, New York City passed a law to allow non-citizens who are permanent legal residents, or authorized to work in this country, to vote in municipal elections.
The issue went to court, and just this past June, the law was struck down by a judge who cited barriers to it in the state constitution.
As these issues continue to become public and as the courts get involved more and more, the issue of political motives comes to the surface. Is it a good idea to have non-citizen voting? Why? What effect would it have? Does the issue benefit one political party over the another? What relation is there between this issue and our immigration/citizenship laws? What needs to be fixed in those areas and what effect would that have over voting?
Speaking as someone who cares about our country and how it works, I think we need to get our citizenship laws working smoothly and then, when people are here legally and are indeed legitimate citizens, then, as the Constitution allows, they should be able to vote — whether for a local, state, or federal election.
The right to vote is a treasured honor of U.S. citizenship. We must not treat it like a cheap gift for people who do not deserve it.
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