Connecticut Dems press for non-citizen voting in local elections

Democrat Juan Candelaria, who represents the 95th District, proposed the bill suggesting legal status should not limit one's ability to take part in the democratic process. Over 240,000 non-citizens currently live in Connecticut.

The bill, which has been referred to the Committee on Government Administration and Elections, asked that "article sixth of the Constitution of the state be amended to allow undocumented immigrants who are residents of the state to be admitted as electors for purposes of voting in municipal and state elections."

"Everybody needs a voice in the Democratic process," Candelaria argued, according to WTNH, pointing out that there are people in the state who despite being undocumented, have been living there for upwards of twenty years.

Candelaria went on to state that the right to vote would not be handed out to just anyone. "There's going to be requirements," he said. "What I'm thinking in my mind is maybe five to ten years resident of the state, [and] that you don't have felonies."

Other state representatives were quick to condemn the proposal.

"I personally think it's outrageous that we would even have a conversation about having a non-citizen of this country vote in our local and state elections," Republican Gale Mastrofranceso lamented.

According to Breitbart, across the border in Vermont, the state's supreme court ruled in favor of a city's proposal to allow non-citizens to vote in its municipal election, and similar legislation has been proposed in nearby Rhode Island.

Since Arkansas became the last state to outlaw non-citizen voting in 1926, there has been a growing attempt by Democrats at all levels of government to give green card holders, foreign nationals, and illegal migrants the right to take part in the democratic process. Most proposals have been met with criticism, and ultimately struck down.