Mayor Karen Bass says LA should ‘explore’ having noncitizens vote

She made the comments during a recent sit-down interview with Politico, and argued that the policy makes sense given that noncitizens "pay local taxes.”

The question came from Politico’s Melanie Mason, who asked, "I know that there are some cities that already do this, but you know, politics is all about timing. With Donald Trump in the White House, is this the right time for Los Angeles to go down this path?"

Bass responded, "Well, I think we need to explore it. Now, I've not seen exactly what he's calling for. I have a little familiarity of what happens in other cities, and for example, some cities will allow people to vote in, like, city council and school board elections, because they pay local taxes, but they are not necessarily undocumented.”

"They might be here completely legally, but have not finished the citizenship process. So we'll wait and see,” she added.

The remarks come at a politically precarious moment for Bass, who is fighting to stay in office this year against independent challenger Spancer Pratt as well as other mayoral contenders.

Pratt, a political outsider, has transformed himself from a little-known candidate into a dominant force in the race's media narrative. With a slew of viral ads, some being made with AI, he has been making the case to voters that the city's widespread failures are largely the result of Democratic leadership.

Bass was asked the same question on the debate stage earlier this month, and at that point, Bass said, "It depends. It's not a yes or no." Pratt, however, flatly answered "no." While federal laws bar noncitizens from voting in country-wide elections, some Democrat-run cities and localities have been experimenting with allowing noncitizens to vote.