Maryland
Barnesville: The Barnesville town charter defines qualified voters as "having resided therein for six months previous to any town election and being eighteen years of age."
Brentwood: The Brentwood town charter says "Every person shall be a qualified voter who (a) is a citizen of the United States or, if not a citizen, is a lawful resident as defined by US Citizen and Immigration Services to reside in the United States ... (c) is a resident of the Town of Brentwood, (d) has resided within the corporate limits of the town for one year ... ."
Cheverly: Any person over the age of 18 who has been a resident of Cheverly for at least 30 days at the time of the election and has not been convicted of a crime is eligible to register to vote in town elections.
Chevy Chase Section 3: The charter of Chevy Chase Section 3 reads, "'Qualified Voter' shall mean any person who is a resident of Chevy Chase Section 3, without regard to citizenship, and is at least eighteen (18) years of age."
Colmar Manor: Any person who will be over the age of 18 at the next town election and "who does not claim voting residence or claim the right to vote in another jurisdiction, and who has established and maintained a residence in the town for a period of 182 continuous days" may register to vote and sign town nominating and referenda petitions.
Edmonston: In November 2024, the Edmonston town council voted 2-1 with one abstention to approve noncitizen voting in town elections. As of December 2024, the town had not published the text of the new ordinance on its website.
Frederick: Frederick's city charter says, "an individual may become registered to vote if the individual (a) is a resident of the City as of the day the individual seeks to register, (b) Does not claim voting residence or the right to vote in another jurisdiction; and (c) Is at least 18 years old or will be at least 18 years old on or before the day of the City's next general election."
Garrett Park: The Garrett Park town charter says: "The town manager shall provide for the registration of voters in a flexible and available manner in order to encourage registration and voting, consistent with the policies adopted by ordinance and the rules and procedures specified by the election judges. Qualified persons may register by universal registration with either Montgomery County or the town, or may register only with the town, including residents who are not citizens of the United States, up to and including election day."
Glen Echo: Glen Echo's town charter says the following: "Any person who is not a United States citizen, and (a) is a resident of the Town of Glen Echo, (b) is a lawful resident of the United States, and (c) except for the United States citizenship requirement, meets the voter qualifications provided in Section 501(a) may register to vote in Town elections."
Greenbelt: In September 2024, the Greenbelt city council voted 6-0 to approve noncitizen voting in town elections. As of December 2024, the city had not published the text of the new ordinance on its website.
Hyattsville: The Hyattsville town website states, "Hyattsville residents who are not U.S. citizens, or do not wish to register with the State, may use the Hyattsville City Voter Registration Form."
Martin’s Additions: The Martin's Additions town charter says, "'Qualified Voter' is any person who owns property or any resident of Martin's Additions who is eighteen (18) years of age or over."
Mount Rainier: Mount Rainier's city charter states that any person who has been a city resident for 30 days or more at the time of a local election, is at least 18 years old, has not been convicted of a felony offense or of buying and selling votes, and is not under mental guardianship may register to vote.
Riverdale Park: Riverdale Park's town charter states, "(a) Every resident of the town who (1) has the Town of Riverdale Park as his or her primary residence, (2) is at least sixteen (16) years of age, (3) has resided within the corporate limits of the town for at least forty-five (45) days immediately preceding any nonrunoff town election, (4) does not claim the right to vote elsewhere in the United States, (5) has not been found by a court to be unable to communicate a desire to vote, and (6) is registered to vote in accordance with the provisions of § 503 of this charter shall be a qualified voter of the Town."
Somerset: The Somerset town charter says, "Every person who (1) is at least sixteen (16) years of age, (2) has resided within the corporate limits of the town for fourteen (14) days next preceding any election, and (3) is registered in accordance with the provisions of this Charter, shall be a qualified voter of the town."
Takoma Park: The Takoma Park city website states, "City residents who are not citizens of the United States can register to vote in Takoma Park elections by completing the Takoma Park Voter Registration Application."
Source: Ballotpedia https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States
Immigrant Voting Rights Campaigns
In December 2016, Hyattsville granted immigrant voting rights and soon after Mount Rainer followed suit in January 2017. Chevy Chase became the 11th town in Maryland to grant voting rights to noncitizens in 2018.
Maryland’s state constitution and election code allow municipalities, except for Baltimore, gives to govern their own elections beyond state qualifications. For example, the Barnesville town charter defines qualified voters as “having resided therein for six months previous to any town election and being eighteen years of age”
The charter of Chevy Chase Section 3 states, “‘Qualified Voter’ shall mean any person who is a resident of Chevy Chase Section 3, without regard to citizenship, and is at least eighteen (18) years of age.”
Research on Immigrant Voting Rights
Research shows that immigrants vote in significant numbers in some districts, on par with citizen neighbors in some cases, contributing to electoral and policy outcomes
I. In Takoma Park Maryland, immigrant political engagement has been robust, with noncitizens voted a nearly comparable rates as citizen voters in districts where they were concentrated during the 1990s, though their turnout declined after September 11th when anti-immigrant sentiment and surveillance grew and as federal enforcement grew.
II. More recently, however, noncitizen voting has increased in places. For example, the Hyattsville Maryland election’s office devoted significant staff time to voter outreach, education, and registration. (They have four full time staff and one part-time staff person for the town’s total population of 20,000).
III. They employed use of social media to get the word out, especially paid locally-targeted adverts in Spanish on Facebook, introduced same-day voter registration for local elections, and conducted a fully mail-in election for the first time that entailed hiring a private company (Ballot Scout) to support mailings and follow-up to increase transparency – all of which boosted their overall voter turnout by almost 100% from previous local-only elections.
Administrative Features of
Immigrant Voting Measures
Maryland’s election administrators keep two separate voter registration lists: the state keeps a list of citizen voters for state and federal elections and local city clerks keep a separate list of noncitizen voters who can vote in local elections (they also have the list of their local citizens).
Election administrators have developed two types of voter registration forms and use them to draw up the two different lists. For local elections— where both citizens and noncitizens vote—the clerks merge the two lists. In this way, the only people who know citizens from noncitizen voters are the election clerks. From the vantage point of an observer, all voters look the same.
After a local election, however, noncitizen voter cards are removed from the voter lists and kept separately. Only citizens will appear on the voter lists for elections of state and federal offices.
Similar systems are in place for the other five jurisdictions that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections in Maryland. Towns in Maryland have successfully implemented resident municipal voting for more than two decades without reporting incidents of illegal voting, successfully building a firewall between local elections that occur in different years than in state and federal races.
Voter Education and Outreach
Hyattsville Maryland hired an additional full-time staff person in 2018 to do voter outreach, voter education, create new materials, and to help with implementation. They also hired a full-time bilingual Communications Specialist to help with outreach, especially to Spanish speakers. Hyattsville has a total population of only 18,000 people but like San Francisco, it about one third of its total population are foreign born (36%), and about 23% are noncitizens (13% are naturalized citizens). In 2018, Hyattsville expended approximately $5 per resident to foster immigrant voting. San Francisco, by contrast, spent about $3 per resident to implement Prop N in 2018.
In 2020, the election’s office in Hyattsville devoted significant staff time to voter outreach, education, and registration. They have four full-time staff and one part-time staff person for the town’s total population of 20,000. In 2020, they employed use of social media to get the word out, especially paid locally-targeted adverts in Spanish on Facebook, introduced same-day voter registration for local elections, and conducted a fully mail-in election for the first time that entailed hiring a private company (Ballot Scout) to support mailings and follow-up to increase transparency – all of which boosted their overall voter turnout by almost 100% from previous local-only elections.
Contact us.
Ron Hayduk
rhayduk@sfsu.edu
Please email us if you have any questions or any information that you would like to share with us.