Santa Ana Measure DD: Allowing noncitizens to vote in local Santa Ana elections — LAist

By Yusra Farzan, LAist

Santa Ana is asking voters to decide whether non-U.S. citizens residing within Santa Ana should be allowed to cast ballots in local municipal elections, including city council and mayoral races.

Official title on the ballot: Measure DD

You are being asked: Shall the City of Santa Ana City Charter be amended to allow, by the November 2028 general municipal election, noncitizen City residents to vote in all City of Santa Ana municipal elections?

Understanding Measure DD

If the measure passes, Santa Ana will become the first city in California to allow non-U.S. citizens to vote in its municipal elections. (Voters in San Francisco and Oakland passed measures allowing non-U.S. citizens to vote in school board elections, although Oakland has yet to implement it.)

Santa Ana’s ballot measure comes at a time when Republicans have made noncitizen voting a key issue going into the presidential election on Nov. 5. In Congress, Republicans have passed the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act to require proof of citizenship when voting in federal elections. (The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 already bans non-U.S. citizens from voting in federal as well as some state races.)