Push to let noncitizens vote in this California city hinges on 7 words

The November ballot in Santa Ana is going to include a measure to allow illegal aliens, law breakers who under the law are to be deported, will be allowed to vote for city council, school board and city ballot measures.

“In Santa Ana, where largely Hispanic noncitizens make up nearly a quarter of the population, conservative organizations including the California Public Policy Foundation challenged the specific ballot wording around “taxpayers and parents” in court, saying it will unfairly influence voters in favor of the proposal.

James Lacy, an attorney and activist involved in the suit, told POLITICO he’s not opposed to the issue appearing on the ballot in general, even though he is personally against the idea of letting noncitizens vote.

“What they’re doing, without a question, is sugarcoating the ballot in favor of a vote for it by making a statement that is positive,” he said. “That is advocacy — you can’t do that and have a fair election.”

If enacted, this will allow illegal aliens to control the city and the schools.  Imagine folks from El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and other Latin American countries owning an American town.  This is one step from allowing illegal aliens to SERVE on the city council or school board. 

Push to let noncitizens vote in this California city hinges on 7 words

The effort to extend voting rights to noncitizens in Santa Ana comes amid a countermove by national and state-level Republicans to explicitly ban the practice.

By EMILY SCHULTHEIS, Politico,  6/24/24  https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/24/noncitizens-voting-santa-ana-california-00164769

Opponents of a measure to let noncitizens vote are seizing on seven words they say will skew the November vote in one of Southern California’s largest cities.

The Santa Ana City Council wants voters to decide whether noncitizen residents of the city, “including those who are taxpayers and parents,” can participate in all municipal elections.

Noncitizen voting for presidential and congressional offices is illegal, but federal law says nothing about local elections. Various efforts to give noncitizens the vote in those contests — including in San Francisco in 2016 and in Oakland in 2022 — have put increased focus on the issue, leading Republicans on both the state and national level to seek to curtail the process.

In Congress, Republicans introduced the SAVE Act, which would require voters to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The issue is finding its way to state-level ballots, too: Missouri, South Carolina, Iowa, Kentucky and Wisconsin have already qualified ballot measures to explicitly ban noncitizen voting, and several others may still follow suit. (Six other states have passed similar ballot measures between 2018 and 2022.)

In Santa Ana, where largely Hispanic noncitizens make up nearly a quarter of the population, conservative organizations including the California Public Policy Foundation challenged the specific ballot wording around “taxpayers and parents” in court, saying it will unfairly influence voters in favor of the proposal.

James Lacy, an attorney and activist involved in the suit, told POLITICO he’s not opposed to the issue appearing on the ballot in general, even though he is personally against the idea of letting noncitizens vote.

“What they’re doing, without a question, is sugarcoating the ballot in favor of a vote for it by making a statement that is positive,” he said. “That is advocacy — you can’t do that and have a fair election.”

A county judge ruled in favor of Lacy and other opponents earlier this month, ordering the city to update the language to make it more neutral. The council stood firm last week, voting to stick with the controversial phrasing. Councilmembers in favor of keeping the original text said the American Civil Liberties Union has agreed to defend it in the face of further legal challenges.

“The language I find to be unbiased: It is simply describing who noncitizens are,” City Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez said during a meeting last week. “Noncitizens pay over $145 million in taxes in Orange County today. … Orange County wouldn’t be the county that it is without noncitizens.”

Fellow Councilmember David Penaloza fired back, saying the city had gone from “neutral, adequate” language when the measure was first proposed to “disingenuous” language meant to “persuade and influence” voters.

“The City Council … pulled language out of the air, I don’t know why but they did, that included the term ‘parents,’” he said. “This is simply being done so when somebody goes to the ballot box, they read, ‘Oh yeah, of course parents and taxpayers can vote.’”

Should the Santa Ana measure pass, it would likely face continued legal challenges. Opponents of San Francisco’s Proposition N, a similar measure approved by voters in 2016, took the measure to court. A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled it unconstitutional, agreeing with the opponents’ argument that the California Constitution’s provision stating U.S. citizens “may vote” inherently bars noncitizens from voting.

But an appeals court overturned that ruling last year, saying state and local governments — and in particular charter cities like San Francisco (and Santa Ana) — have broad powers to enforce their own laws on the municipal level, reinstating noncitizens’ right to vote.