The Immigrant Voting Project 
News Coverage

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

sf-frontlines.com
Friday, June 25, 2004
SF Coalition for Immigrant Voting Rights Emerges

By Gina Alvarez

SAN FRANCISCO -- The drums of democracy are being beaten once again in San Francisco. A group of community organizations, predominantly from the Chinese and Latino communities, elected officials and activists met last Friday, June 18 to set up the Coalition for Immigrant Voting Rights.

The Coalition has as its purpose educating the voters and organizing the campaign for the passage of Matt Gonzalez’s proposal to extend voting rights to non-citizen parents with children in the public schools for the Board of Supervisors. READ MORE

The San Jose Mercury News
Posted on Mon, Jun. 21, 2004
S.F. may give non-citizens school board voting rights

By Jessie Mangaliman

In a push to get more immigrants involved in their children's education, San Francisco officials are considering asking voters in November to give parents who are not U.S. citizens the right to vote in school board elections.

Under the proposed ballot initiative, even illegal immigrants would be able to vote, so long as they are parents with kids in public schools.

If the effort succeeds, San Francisco would become the first city in California to join a growing number of cities across the country that have adopted similar laws in recent years. The move could open the door for other cities or counties in the immigrant-rich Bay Area to follow suit. READ MORE


The New York Times
June 11, 2004 
A Longer Wait for Citizenship and the Ballot in New York

By NINA BERNSTEIN

New York, long the doorway for immigrants seeking entry into American society, now has one of the nation's longest backlogs of newcomers awaiting answers to their citizenship applications. It now typically takes triple the time to become a United States citizen in New York as in San Antonio - a year and a half compared with six months.

The backlog of pending citizenship cases in New York exceeds 100,000, more than in any other district in the country. The waiting list is likely to prevent a large number of would-be citizens from voting in the November election, frustrating voter registration drives and raising questions among advocates about why federal offices in some cities have fallen so far behind others in processing applications. READ MORE

The Newton (MA) TAB
Tuesday, June 8, 2004
Voting rights for immigrants

By Ted Hess-Mahan

....In Massachusetts, Cambridge and Amherst have sought permission from the legislature to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections and other cities and towns, like Somerville, Everett and Chelsea, are moving in the same direction. Getting legislative approval may take some time, but it can be done.

The Board of Aldermen will soon have an opportunity to decide whether Newton will join other progressive communities in pursuing local voting rights for legal immigrants who are not yet citizens. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of immigrants living in Newton has grown by more than half to over 15,000 - almost one in five residents. The number of non-citizens has likewise increased to almost one in 12 Newton residents. They come from all over the globe, represent every race and color, and include rich and poor, young and old, homeowners and renters. [READ MORE]

Newsday
Friday, June 4, 2004
THE NEW NEW YORKERS
The higher price of citizenship
Rate increases are making it more difficult for some already cash-pinched immigrants to make their American dreams come true

BY JONATHAN SCHIENBERG

As a bus boy at the Copacabana club in midtown Manhattan, Dominican immigrant Juan Lagares is working overtime to afford his American dream.

To apply to be a naturalized U.S. citizen, Lagares, 22, of Washington Heights, will have to pay about $800, or about three weeks of his salary, and still find a way to support himself and his 2-year-old daughter. To make up for the money he is spending to become an American, Lagares said he will be working extra hours at the club.

But compared to other immigrants who are just now filing their naturalization applications, Lagares got a good deal. READ MORE

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