The Immigrant Voting Project 
News Coverage Summer 2004

July-August 2004

Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
The foreign franchise  
Noncitizen legal immigrants should be drawn into the mainstream of American life by receiving the privilege of voting in local elections, we are told. 

To wit: Taxation without representation is tyranny. Voting rights were extended to new immigrants to attract settlers to the West until a fit of nativism intervened. Voting was once forbidden to blacks and women. In parallel fashion, voting for immigrants is the civil rights struggle of the day. Hogwash. 

Being fully American is a special thing, so special in a matured society that if you are born into it, the people require that you be taught the history and culture of the nation. During the formative years, one is awash with the nature and manners of being an American. READ MORE

The Washington Times
August 17, 2004
A bad voting-rights bill 
Just before the D.C. Council recessed for the summer, a handful of D.C. lawmakers threw their support behind a bill that would permit non-U.S. citizens the right to vote. The issue will justifiably prove contentious when local and federal lawmakers return next month and as voters decide where local and national candidates stand on key immigration issues. Non-citizens should not be granted this franchise. 

D.C. Council members Harold Brazil, Adrian Fenty and Jim Graham co-introduced the Equitable Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2004, and two colleagues, Sharon Ambrose and Kevin Chavous, co-sponsored it. All five are Democrats, and all five are liberals angling for immigrant support. For example, Mr. Graham represents Ward 1, a densely populated ethnic melting pot situated east of the National Zoo. READ MORE

The San Bernardino County Sun
August 17, 2004
SB school board rips voting by noncitizens
By STEPHEN WALL, 
Staff Writer 

SAN BERNARDINO - Alicia Duarte thinks her five children are being cheated out of an equal education. Duarte, 39, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, said school officials treat her differently because she isn't a citizen. 

``We need to have more of a voice in how our schools are run,'' said Duarte, who runs a tire and appliance shop in San Bernardino with her husband. ``We need to be able to have a say in the school officials who represent us.'' 

But San Bernardino school board members on Tuesday night slammed the door in the face of Duarte and other noncitizen parents hoping to get the right to vote in local school elections. The San Bernardino City Unified School District board concluded it doesn't have the legal authority to consider the matter. 

Education advocate Gil Navarro had asked the school board to put the item on next month's meeting agenda for discussion. READ MORE

The New York Times
Monday, August 9, 2004
August 9, 2004 
Immigrants Raise Call for Right to Be Voters 
By RACHEL L. SWARNS 
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 - For months, the would-be revolutionaries plotted strategy and lobbied local politicians here with the age-old plea, "No taxation without representation!" Last month, some of the unlikely insurgents - Ethiopian-born restaurateurs, travel agents and real estate developers in sober business suits - declared that victory finally seemed within reach. 

Five City Council members announced their support for a bill that would allow thousands of immigrants to vote in local elections here, placing the nation's capital among a handful of cities across the country in the forefront of efforts to offer voting rights to noncitizens. 

"It will happen,'' said Tamrat Medhin, a civic activist from Ethiopia who lives here. "Don't you believe that if people are working in the community and paying taxes, don't you agree that they deserve the opportunity to vote?''  READ MORE

The San Bernardino Sun
Friday, July 30, 2004
Group Pushing Migrant Voting
Activists to visit SB school board 

By STEPHEN WALL, Staff Writer 

SAN BERNARDINO - It may seem like a radical idea, but it was common for much of American history. For 150 years, immigrants who weren't U.S. citizens were allowed to vote and hold political office in 22 states and territories. While state and federal voting rights for noncitizens were taken away in 1926, several cities in the nation still give immigrants the right to vote in local elections. 

The San Bernardino City Unified School District could be next to join the list. Community activists on Tuesday will ask the school board to support a ballot initiative that would allow any parent who has a child in the district to vote in a local school board election. The seven-member board must decide to formally consider the issue at a future meeting. If the board agrees, the measure would go before voters in March 2005. READ MORE

The Los Angeles Times
August 1, 2004
Op-Ed/Commentary:
Only Citizens Should Hold Voting Rights
By Peter H. Schuck 

...In my view, the right to vote should be predicated on citizenship, and the right to citizenship should continue to require a significant period of legal residence. Newcomers need time to acquire the very minimal political knowledge conducive to rational voting.

But some legal changes might make the distinction easier to justify. Our five-year waiting period for citizenship, which dates back to the 19th century, may not be optimal. (The period is three years in Canada and also here for those with a U.S. citizen spouse; Australia's period is even shorter.) Our naturalization tests, now being revised, may not measure political knowledge effectively. We should also consider extending the vote to immigrants who have met the naturalization requirements but are delayed by long bureaucratic backlogs; their vote should not have to wait until the government gets around to scheduling their ceremonies. READ MORE

The Oakland Tribune
Sunday, July 25, 2004 
Immigrants unite to gain rights and legal standing
With help from advocacy groups, they try to change government footdragging

By Lydia Chavez, CORRESPONDENT

Meet Emilia Otero, Socorro Campos and Stacy Kono.

They are on the front lines of local movements that disregard the esoteric political debate of immigration policy and deal with the reality of an ever-growing immigrant population.

Sometimes they are an individualwith a good heart -- Otero; a businessman with a memory of his own hardships -- Campos; or an advocate who works with a nonprofit -- Kono.

But, in myriad ways, individuals, alone or through nonprofits and elected officials, are working to give immigrants -- documented or not -- legal standing.  READ MORE

The Los Angeles Times
July 22, 2004
THE NATION
Rare Town Where Voters Don't Have to Be Citizens
Few in the Washington suburb know that immigrants can vote in municipal elections.

By Kathleen Hennessey, Times Staff Writer 

TAKOMA PARK, Md. More than a decade ago, this left-leaning suburb's decision to allow noncitizens to vote made news across the country. Today the fact that noncitizens here can vote is news to many residents. 

"Is that true?" said Israel Martinez, who moved seven years ago to this leafy suburb just across the District of Columbia line. "Really?" 

In 1992, the City Council amended the city charter to allow immigrants regardless of documentation to vote in municipal elections. Of the six Maryland communities where U.S. citizenship is not a requirement for voting, Takoma Park, with more than 17,000 residents, is the largest. READ MORE

Reuters
Senator Says San Francisco Noncitizen Vote Illegal
Wed Jul 21, 2004 06:35 PM ET

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A ballot measure aiming to let noncitizens vote in San Francisco school board elections is unconstitutional, California
Senator Dianne Feinstein said on Wednesday,

The liberal city's legislature backed a plan on Tuesday to give noncitizen residents with children in public schools the right to vote for the school board. The measure needs approval from voters in November.

Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor, said in a statement that the plan clashes with state law: "Allowing noncitizens to vote is not only unconstitutional in California, it clearly dilutes the promise of citizenship." READ MORE

The San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Immigrant status stirs host of issues 
Noncitizens persist in fight for rights, democratic voice

By Katia Hetter

In California, minorities have become the majority and the immigrant population continues to increase, redefining the debate over exactly what it means to be a resident of California -- legal or not.

In San Francisco, noncitizen parents and guardians of public school children -- whether they are in the country legally or not -- could win the right to vote in local board elections. Statewide, undocumented immigrants might win a renewed battle to receive driver's licenses. Meanwhile, California is led by a foreign-born governor whose early successes and popularity lead some to question the U.S. Constitution's requirement that the president be a U. S.-born citizen. READ MORE

The San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, July 18, 2004
The supes flunk citizenship

By Debra J. Saunders (Columnist)

SAN FRANCISCO has become a city devoted to expanding the meaning of all categories until none has meaning. Citizen? Today that term describes Americans who can register to vote and serve on juries. But if a measure before the Board of Supervisors is approved by city voters and becomes law, it will render the term "citizen" but an antiquated notion in San Francisco. READ MORE


The San Francisco Chronicle
July 14, 2004
Yee fights for right to vote
Says mother shows noncitizens' need for say-so in schools

By Heather Knight

State Assemblyman Leland Yee said Tuesday it was not fair his own mother had spent nearly 50 years in San Francisco after emigrating from southern China, worked as a seamstress, paid taxes and sent all five of her children through public schools - but has never had a say in Board of Education elections.

So, when Yee learned of a San Francisco movement to give noncitizens with children in the city's public schools the right to vote in school board elections, he vowed to do whatever he could to help -- even work to get the matter placed on a statewide ballot to clear away a key legal obstacle. READ MORE

National Public Radio
July 13, 2004
Morning Edition audio
San Francisco Eyes School Vote for Noncitizens
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors proposes granting parents who are not U.S. citizens the opportunity to vote in local school board elections. The move is aimed at encouraging parent participation. Opponents want immigrants to become full-fledged Americans before they vote. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports. LISTEN

The San Francisco Chronicle 
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Right-to-vote fight: 
Proposal letting noncitizens vote in school elections called unconstitutional

Katia Hetter, Chronicle Staff Writer

Former San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne charged Friday that a proposal to allow noncitizen parents and guardians of public schoolchildren to vote in Board of Education elections violates the state constitution, a claim disputed by the measure's backers.

Renne based her view on a 1996 San Francisco Superior Court order -- issued when she was city attorney -- and a standing city attorney opinion from the same period saying that the state constitution forbids voting by noncitizens. READ MORE

The San Francisco Chronicle
July 9, 2004
Right to vote sought for noncitizen parents
Measure would apply to elections for school board
By Katia Hetter

Parents and legal guardians of public schoolchildren who are not citizens of the United States -- including those who are here illegally -- would be able to vote in San Francisco Board of Education elections under a ballot measure approved unanimously by a supervisors committee for the November election.

The full Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Tuesday to place the amendment on the Nov. 2 ballot. The amendment needs 50 percent of the
votes to become law. READ MORE

The San Francisco Examiner
July 2, 2004
Plan would grant vote to noncitizens

By Adriel Hampton
A reform measure that would allow noncitizens with children in the San Francisco Unified School District to cast ballots in Board of Education elections is moving forward and appears to have the needed support to go before voters in November.

The initiative, perhaps the first step toward giving full voting rights for immigrants, could utilize a "blind registry" system, where parents and guardians are signed up to vote through district records. If passed, it would blend citizens and immigrants, according to Carlos Petroni of the "Parents United for Education" campaign. READ MORE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
July 2, 2004

Now, both their cities are among a handful of places across the nation that are considering giving noncitizens the right to vote in municipal or school elections. READ MORE


The Contra Costa Times 
Thursday, July 1, 2004
SF Looks at Granting Noncitizens a School Vote

By Jack Chang
Possibly the next hot topic in the state's debate over immigration is shaping up in San Francisco, where supervisors may ask voters in November to decide whether to let noncitizens vote in school board elections.

Most controversially, voter approval of the proposal would allow illegal immigrants to vote and help determine how taxpayer dollars are spent on public schools.  READ MORE