Santa Ana ballot measure would give non-citizens right to vote in local elections

A ballot measure being pitched to a city of around 300,000 in California could give non-citizens voting access to local elections. The proposal could put Santa Ana alongside around 20 other cities and locales that have made it the law for non-citizens to vote in local elections.

Measure DD, if passed, would allow for those without citizenship status to vote in local elections, per Politico, going against the trend that has been talked about of late from the GOP. Republicans have repeatedly introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, even though it has been directed at federal elections.



This would not apply to California-wide elections, or federal, but would rather just be for the city of Santa Ana itself. The backers of the ballot measure see it as a way to advance the practice of non-citizen voting and hope that more locales will follow suit.

Executive director of the pro-immigrant rights group the Harbor Institute Carlos Perea told volunteers, “What is happening right here in Santa Ana is going to send shockwaves across the state and across the nation."

The city is within Orange County, and opponents to the measure are also waiting to see what occurs, hoping that the measure will not pass. Conservative activist as well as lawyer James Lacy, said that its passing would be “a dagger plunged into the heart of the nationwide movement for non-citizen voting.”

Around 20 percent of Santa Ana residents do not have citizenship status, per Spectrum News 1. The measure has support as well as opposition throughout the city. Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who is up for reelection, is standing against the measure.