[wvns] Boston Ponders Non- Citizen Voting Rights
Boston Ponders Non- Citizen Voting Rights
The Muslim Observer
www.muslimobserver.com
Boston--June 18--The Green Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, Boston
Chapter voted unanimously to support a petition to allow non-citizen
residents of Boston to vote in municipal elections, which was
introduced on April 11, 2007 to the Boston City Council by city
councilor Felix Arroyo and supported by city councilors Chuck Turner,
Charles Yancey, Sam Yoon, and Michael Ross.
Boston is home to over 150,000 immigrants, representing over 25% of
the population and nearly 30% of the work force. Immigrants own over
8,000 businesses in Greater Boston, and generate $12.3 billion of
economic activity in the region. Nearly two-thirds of those immigrants
are currently not eligible to vote.
Arroyo believes that excluding such a significant portion of the
City's population from voting on issues that effect their lives
undermines the health of our democracy.
"They are already paying taxes, they are already authorized to be
here, and they are participants in the life of the city," Arroyo argued.
Until 1926, twenty-two U.S. states and territories permitted
non-citizens to vote.
If the home rule petition is approved by the Legislature, about 95,000
legal immigrant residents would get the right to vote, and the number
of eligible voters in Boston would increase by as much as one third,
although non-citizens still could not vote in state or federal elections.
There are currently about 280,000 registered voters in Boston,
according to Election Department figures.
To move forward, Arroyo's petition must receive approval from a
majority of councilors and be signed by Mayor Thomas Menino, who is
still undecided.
Ali Noorani, director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee
Advocacy Coalition, said, "Boston is a big fish. It does change the
dynamics."
It is believed that immigrant voting will encourage civic education
and political literacy.
Several U.S. cities allow all residents to vote regardless of their
citizenship status, and similar initiatives are being considered in
New York, San Francisco, and Denver.
The State of Massachusetts risks losing one of its ten congressional
seats due to resident departures. Thanks to legal immigration, the
state's population did not decrease. The largest immigrant population
in Boston as of 2000 is Caribbean. Because of immigration, non-whites
became the majority in Boston in 2000.
All legal permanent residents must agree to take up arms for the
United States. Tens of thousands of non-citizens serve in the U.S.
armed forces and hundreds of non-citizen soldiers have died in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
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