[EL] equal numbers of VOTERS, rather than residents - let noncitizens vote?

[David A. Holtzman]

On Thursday night, Zócalo Public Square hosted a discussion of civic 
engagement and "Why Don't Californians Talk About Politics?"

Here's an excerpt from the summary of the event at 
http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/05/19/we-need-to-talk/read/event-rundown/ 
:

"[T]oward the end of the panel, [moderator Joe Mathews, co-author of 
"California Crackup"] asked panelists to give a 30-second answer about 
*the biggest thing the state can do to improve civic participation*. . . .

"Speaking last, [John Rogers, a professor of education at UCLA and the 
founder of the university's Institute for Democracy, Education and 
Access] gave an unexpected answer.

"'Californians should *work on the federal level for comprehensive 
immigration reform*,' he said. 'So many people are excluded from the 
political process.'"

The sentiment is perhaps another nudge toward allowing noncitizen voting.

- dah


On 5/19/2011 1:07 AM, David A. Holtzman wrote:
> [...]
> To address the disparity in number of registered voters among city 
> council districts, and to bring politics closer to the people, so to 
> speak, we could allow noncitizen residents to register and vote in 
> city elections.
>
> I heard that idea some time ago from a [Los Angeles] City 
> Councilmember-turned-City Council staffer, Mike Hernandez.I looked up 
> his Wikipedia entry tonight and read, "in his 1st District, [] a 
> majority of residents are routinely excluded from having a say on 
> matters of common concern because they are noncitizens who cannot vote 
> and are on the lower rung of an electoral caste system that leaves a 
> minority in charge."[...]

-- 
David A. Holtzman, M.P.H., J.D.
david at holtzmanlaw.com

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