Santa Ana in Orange County could soon be the first California city to permit noncitizens to vote in all municipal elections.
Measure DD, which will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, would allow noncitizens to vote in city elections starting no later than November 2028, according to Santa Ana’s
city website. About
23 percent of the city’s population are noncitizens, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
If passed, the measure would allow both legal and illegal immigrants to vote in all local elections, including the mayoral and city council races, as well as proposed sales tax increases and municipal bond measures.
Former Santa Ana council member Nelida Mendoza
wrote the argument against Measure DD. Mendoza argues that implementing the ordinance would cost local taxpayers $10 million and resulting in budget cuts to public safety, emergency services, and other city functions.
“We support our immigrant residents and Santa Ana is a vibrant city rich in the traditions of immigrant communities, families, and businesses,” she writes. “But we must assess the importance of protecting neighborhoods, cleaning and fixing our streets, and picking up trash.”
The ballot measure gained the
support of councilmembers Johnathan Hernandez, Benjamin Vazquez, and Jessie Lopez, and the mayor pro tem, Thai Viet Phan.
In a letter of support for Measure DD, councilmembers argue that, over the first 150 years of U.S. history, 40 states and territories allowed noncitizen voting at various times.
“Federal law is clear that noncitizens can vote in local elections if state and local law allows it,” they wrote in favor of the measure.
Councilmembers Phil Bacerra and David Penaloza and Mayor Valerie Amezcua voted against bringing the measure to voters.
Measure DD, which the Santa Ana city council approved for inclusion on the ballot in November 2023, is being watched nationally due to the hot-button nature of the proposal.
The Republican Party has made Voter ID part of its 2024
agenda, and House Republicans held a hearing in May on how to
prevent noncitizens from voting. Republicans have also
supported the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, where it’s illegal for noncitizens to vote.
Presently, non-U.S. citizens can
vote in local school board elections in San Francisco. Across the Bay, Oakland also
passed such a measure.
In Huntington Beach, a coastal Orange County city situated less than 15 miles to the west of Santa Ana, voters passed a measure requiring voter ID. The state, however,
sued to stop the measure. The governor also
signed Senate Bill 1174 into law in September. The law bans local governments from enacting or enforcing any regulation that requires voters to present identification at the polls.
