New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
Citing the injustice of "taxation without representation" and his desire to make the community more inclusive, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano announced that he intends to lobby for the right of all city residents, regardless of immigration status, to vote in New Haven municipal elections. The New Haven Independent reports:
DeStefano said he plans to lobby the state for a “resident voting rights” bill that would allow any resident of New Haven—regardless of immigration status—to vote in municipal elections in New Haven. He said he’ll launch the effort during this upcoming legislative session, which runs from February to May.
The bill is about “how you define community, and how you define responsibility in community,” he said.
[...]
DeStefano proposed allowing all New Haven residents the right to vote, as long as they provide identification and proof of residency. That’s the same basis by which he offered the immigrant-friendly municipal ID card in 2007. (Currently, only U.S. citizens can vote in elections.)
Should New Haven prove to be more liberal and all-inclusive than San Francisco or Portland, Maine—both cities that have rejected similar proposals—it will join a handful of municipalities in Maryland, which already allow non-citizens to vote.
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Jun '10
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
If they're deported before election day, can they vote absentee?
Jan '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
So, theoretically, a group of foreign citizens could take up residence for however long required, form a substantial bloc, and then vote? Including on a bill to protect the rights of non-citizens to vote? And to receive government largesse?
What could go wrong?
Jul '10
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
The stupidity of the Left never ceases to amaze me. The "problem" of illegals having to pay taxes without representation is solved by sending them home, not enfranchising them. This is idiotic on its face. Yet another sign that many Americans today think rule of law is to be ignored; maintaining power is all that matters. It's disheartening how frivolously people treat voting. It is not something to be given out lightly without any of the responsibilities that are concomitant with citizenship. What's next, giving tourists voting rights? They don't have any say in the taxes they have to pay either.
Edited on Dec 15, 2011 at 9:41amMar '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
As an ex-Green Card holder, I'd be in favor of legal "Permanent Residents" having a vote, but that's about it.
Jan '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
NO representation without naturalization!!!
Apr '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
Statements like this just make me froth at the mouth. Why is the term "legal citizen" so difficult to understand? Whether you are a "permanent resident" or here on a temporary visa, you are still a guest. You don't visit another person's home and then tell them how to re-arrange the furniture. If you don't like things the way they are, then go home. If you want to participate, then make the commitment and become a citizen.
Jul '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
So why doesn't millionaires taxation,so popular these days, qualify as non-representation as well in the eyes of mentally ill progressives? I suppose I just answered my own question.
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
I understand the sentiment, but millionaires who are citizens do get a vote.
Aug '10
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
I am of a favorable mind when it comes to allowing "residents" to vote in city/county/statewide (non-federal) elections, but only when it concerns residents who have legally entered the community.
I believe that communities have the right to set separate standards for "community citizenship" than are set for national citizenship, but that the supremacy clause and federal law must apply with regard to legal status.
This is the definition of federalism and, in my mind, good practice. We should be looking to our local communities to provide the benefits of residency/citizenship more, and to the federal/state governments less. You get fewer "free riders" when you are dealing with more local control.
One of the heinous post-Prop 13 legacies in California is the Sacramentoification of the education system. School boards have less authority than they should, and Sacramento who controls the $$ has far more than they should.
Apr '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
Stephanie
Statements like this just make me froth at the mouth. Why is the term "legal citizen" so difficult to understand? Whether you are a "permanent resident" or here on a temporary visa, you are still a guest. You don't visit another person's home and then tell them how to re-arrange the furniture. If you don't like things the way they are, then go home. If you want to participate, then make the commitment and become a citizen. · Dec 15 at 10:13am
A Canadian coworker recently spent over 100k to get his US citizenship. That is a pretty steep price for voting rights. The bureaucracy needs fixing.
Oct '10
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
By the principle of subsidiarity, shouldn't each level of jurisdiction be allowed to decide who shall constitute the electorate? The U.S. constitution imposes constraints upon this (viz. amendments 15, 19, 24, and 26), but apart from that, why should municipalities and states not be able to decide for themselves who should vote? I am a permanent resident of Switzerland (Permis C), and in my canton (state) and commune (municipality), I am permitted to vote, but I cannot vote in federal elections. This, as every Swiss child will say when asked where babies come from, “varies from canton to canton” (and commune to commune). I can find nothing whatsoever amiss with this: the laws you live under should be made by the people you live with. The argument for permanent residents voting is that we pay the same taxes and have the same stake in the community, so why shouldn't we? But if the citizens should decide otherwise, I'd agree that it's up to them and abide by their decision.
Jul '10
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
kesbar
A Canadian coworker recently spent over 100k to get his US citizenship. That is a pretty steep price for voting rights. The bureaucracy needs fixing. · Dec 15 at 10:55am
Well over 1,000,000 American Lives have been "spent" creating, preserving, and saving US Citizenship and Their voting Rights.
Spending 100k to be a US Citizen sounds like a bargain.
Our borders need fixing.
Mar '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
I don't think it's bursting as much as it's being sabotaged by the likes of National Review's editorial staff and other GOP insiders.
Jan '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
In the spirit of the holidays I offer a compromise.
Undocumented aliens are allowed to vote.
Registered Democrats are not.
Nov '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
Stephanie
Statements like this just make me froth at the mouth. Why is the term "legal citizen" so difficult to understand? Whether you are a "permanent resident" or here on a temporary visa, you are still a guest. You don't visit another person's home and then tell them how to re-arrange the furniture. If you don't like things the way they are, then go home. If you want to participate, then make the commitment and become a citizen. · Dec 15 at 10:13am
What I've never understood is "dual citizenship". Who invented this elitist traveling nonsense? These people get to vote in more than one country? How is that fair to us mere common heartland peasants? Having two nationalities at the same time is like sleeping with two women at the same time, having two religions at the same time, or like voting in two different party primaries for the same election.
Dec '10
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
If you are not a citizen of the US, then you are a citizen of some other country.
You can vote there.
If you want to vote here, then you should have citizenship, proving that you have a stake in the country and community in which you reside.
May '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
If New Haven wants to allow residents to vote, that is fine as long it is ONLY in city elections (county elections too if the city & county are the same) but not in any other elections. New Havev cannot speak for the rest of the state nor can it speak for the US as a whole.
kesbar
A Canadian coworker recently spent over 100k to get his US citizenship.
Was he required to renounce his Canadian citizenship. That should be required.
Diane Ellis, Ed.
I understand the sentiment, but millionaires who are citizens do get a vote. · Dec 15 at 10:34am
Why don't millionaires get to vote more than once? If the right to vote is based on paying taxes, the more taxes paid should entitle more votes to cast.
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
Pilli: If New Haven wants to allow residents to vote, that is fine as long it is ONLY in city elections (county elections too if the city & county are the same) but not in any other elections. New Havev cannot speak for the rest of the state nor can it speak for the US as a whole.
kesbar
A Canadian coworker recently spent over 100k to get his US citizenship.
Was he required to renounce his Canadian citizenship. That should be required.
Diane Ellis, Ed.
I understand the sentiment, but millionaires who are citizens do get a vote. · Dec 15 at 10:34am
Why don't millionaires get to vote more than once? If the right to vote is based on paying taxes, the more taxes paid should entitle more votes to cast. · Dec 15 at 2:09pm
Do we really want Warren Buffett and George Soros voting more than once? I think not.
Nov '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
kesbar
A Canadian coworker recently spent over 100k to get his US citizenship. That is a pretty steep price for voting rights. The bureaucracy needs fixing. · Dec 15 at 10:55am
$100,000! I'm not sure I believe that. People can exaggerate or say anything. I'd like to see the receipts. Obviously, if you attend a citizenship ceremony in Southern California, I don't think you can claim that every person in the room shelled out $100,000.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9CtTxfTfdg
Jan '11
Re: New Haven Mayor: Illegals Should Vote
I don't live in the USA, can I vote too? The outcome of the election will really affect my country's economy. It's only fair.