Some localities are granting limited voting rights to noncitizens, especially on issues directly affecting them.
Marcela Rosas has lived in Santa Ana, California, for more than a decade. Her three children have grown up in the local schools, and Rosas is a long-time volunteer at school programs and community organizations, including the local Mexican cultural center. She follows local politics and worries about how the Santa Ana City Council’s decisions will affect her family. But Rosas has never voted for the city council members who make those decisions. As a noncitizen resident of Santa Ana, she has never had the right to cast a ballot.
A November 2024 ballot measure could change that for Rosas and thousands of other Santa Ana…