California

Cities With Rights

Immigrant Voting Rights Campaigns

After voters in San Francisco narrowly defeated two ballot measures, one in 2004 (51% to 49%) and one in 2010 (54% 46%), they voted in 2016 (54.39% to 45.61%) to grant any parents and guardians of children in the public school system voting rights in school board elections, regardless of their immigrant status. SF Department of Elections; How to register and vote

A 2022 court ruling struck down SF’s law, but the city appealed and won, keeping the city’s immigrant voting law intact. Voters in Oakland similarly decided to allow immigrants vote in the November 2022 elections. The CA Court of Appeal ruled both SF and Oakland can allow noncitizens to vote.

Several other jurisdictions in California are also considering local immigrant voting laws, including San Jose, Santa Ana, Pasadena, Los Angeles, and Richmond. New Report — “Immigrant Voting and the Movement for Inclusion in San Francisco,” published by Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), SEPTEMBER 2023

Local News

Today we march, tomorrow we vote

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Ron Hayduk

rhayduk@sfsu.edu

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