Member-only story
Yes — Non-citizens Can Legally Vote in the United States.
A quick and dirty primer in American civics.
Can non-citizens vote in FEDERAL elections? No.
A federal election deals with national issues (think voting for the President). Federal law bars non-citizens from helping to decide those issues. Source: Illegal Immigration Reform Act, II(B)216(a)(1).
- Are non-citizens participating in federal election anyway? Also no. Non-citizen voting is extremely rare, and state investigations have uncovered almost no incidents of non-citizen voting. Source: The Brennan Center for Justice, Non-citizen Voting Vanishingly Rare.
Can non-citizens vote in STATE elections? No.
A state election deals with issues that impact the entire state (think: legalizing marijuana). Non-citizens have been barred from voting in state elections since 1926. Source: Wikipedia Survey, Non-citizen Suffrage in the United States.
- Are non-citizens participating in state election anyway? Still no. Source: The Brennan Center, Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions.
Can non-citizens vote in LOCAL elections? Yes; but, it’s state-dependent.
A local election deals w/small-region issues (think: local school board). 14 states have no laws barring non-citizen voting. In the…