Lefty Los Angeles politicians want to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections — arguing that illegal migrants should have the right to pick leaders and shape policies in one of America’s largest cities.
A proposal from Hugo Soto-Martínez — a Democratic Socialists of America-backed city councilmember currently running for reelection — would give the Council the authority to extend voting rights to noncitizens.
Soto-Martínez, the son of Mexican immigrants, has framed the push as giving more power families like his own who paid taxes and raised children in LA while remaining locked out of the ballot box.
He contends that decisions ranging from housing and policing to education are felt most acutely at the local level, yet not everyone living under those policies has a say.
Soto-Martínez has support for the push from fellow DSA-backed Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.
The Council would still need to approve the measure before it goes to voters on the Nov. 3 ballot. Even then, councilmembers would be forced to rewrite election law before any change takes effect.
That idea is already bleeding into other races. City attorney candidate Marissa Roy, who is also aligned with the DSA, has backed the plan and signaled she would defend it in court if approved.
Roy has also drawn attention for supporting a moratorium on certain misdemeanor prosecutions.
The proposal is not without precedent, but it remains deeply divisive.
A handful of California jurisdictions have experimented with expanding voting rights to noncitizens in limited contexts. If the measure moves forward, LA would become the largest city in the nation to adopt it.
The debate comes as a competing statewide Voter ID initiative could move California in the opposite direction.
The GOP-backed measure has qualified for the November ballot and would require voters to show government-issued identification at the polls. Mail-in voters would need to provide the last four digits of an ID, such as a driver’s license, and election officials would be required to verify voter registration each time a ballot is cast.
For now, Hugo Soto-Martínez’s proposal heads to the Council’s rules committee, where it will go through public comment and need to garner enough votes to move forward.
