Yes. Federal law allows noncitizens to vote in local elections if permitted by state and local law. In 2023, a court ruling confirmed that charter cities like Santa Ana can legally expand voting rights to noncitizens.

Many cities across the nation have already invested in strengthening democracy.

This includes:

• Washington, D.C.

• San Francisco, CA

• College Park, Vermont

• Oakland, CA

• 11 cities in Maryland

Expanding the right to vote will strengthen Santa Ana's democracy by giving more residents a voice in local decisions. Currently, nearly 30% of adults in the city are noncitizen residents who don’t have the right to vote despite being affected by local policies.

Additionally, Santa Ana's noncitizen residents pay an estimated $117 million in state and local taxes annually.

Advocates for noncitizen voting, including immigration lawyers and legal experts, have not found any cases where someone was denied U.S. citizenship for voting in local elections in places like San Francisco. Some applicants might face extra review, but no one has been denied citizenship for voting legally in these elections.

Yes, and we can do more.

For example, in San Francisco, the Department of Elections provides an affidavit letter to those who have voted in San Francisco school board elections and are going through the naturalization process. That letter lets immigration officials know that the person voted appropriately and legally in a local election. Community members, advocates, and lawyers also reached out to the USCIS local office to ensure that the office was trained and aware that local voting is lawful for noncitizen residents in cities where they can vote. 

Voter information may be accessed by political campaigns, community organizations, journalists, and government agencies. However, according to the director of the San Francisco Department of Elections, since 2016, the San Francisco Department of Elections has never received a request from Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) for voter information.

Just as Californians can make the decision for themselves as to whether they want to apply for driver's licenses, Santa Ana residents should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to register to vote in local elections.

Election services would need to be expanded, but costs would be a very small fraction of the city budget. For example, Santa Ana spent about $360,000 for the County of Orange to run the city’s 2022 general election. The city’s budget is $734 million, so the costs would be minimal and manageable.

Santa Ana already pays the County of Orange to run its elections, which includes preparing many different versions of ballots for voters in different districts. In other words, costs associated with Measure DD would be standard costs for running elections and maintaining a democracy. Replacing precincts with Vote Centers has also recently lowered election costs.

A significant portion of Santa Ana's Asian and Latino populations are noncitizens. For example, 17.86% of Asian adults and 37.02% of Hispanic adults in Santa Ana are noncitizens. Allowing them to vote would give these communities greater representation in local matters.