Five City Council members announced their support
for a bill that would allow thousands of immigrants to vote in local
elections here, placing the nation's capital among a handful of cities
across the country in the forefront of efforts to offer voting rights
to noncitizens.Calling for "democracy for all," immigrants are
increasingly pressing for the right to vote in municipal elections. In
Washington, the proposed bill, introduced in July, would allow
permanent residents to vote for the mayor and members of the school
board and City Council. In San Francisco, voters will decide in
November whether to allow noncitizens - including illegal immigrants -
to vote in school board elections. Efforts to expand the franchise to
noncitizens are also bubbling up in New York, Connecticut and
elsewhere. Several cities, including Chicago, and towns like Takoma
Park, Md., already allow noncitizens to vote in municipal or school
elections. Washington's mayor, Anthony Williams, has expressed his
support for extending voting rights to permanent residents, but has yet
to garner a majority of supporters on the 13-member City Council. [more]
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