Although surprising to many, immigrant voting is older than our national pastime (baseball) and was extensively practiced in the United States. In fact, 40 states allowed immigrants who were not U.S. citizens to legally vote at some point between 1776-1926 in local, state, and even federal elections. Immigrants could also hold office before citizenship.

Today, immigrants are rediscovering this history and they have successfully waged campaigns to restore immigrant voting rights in 10 towns in Maryland (1990-2017), in School Board Elections in San Francisco (2016) and Oakland CA (2022), in New York City (2021), in 3 towns in Vermont (2021/22), and in Washington D.C. (2022). Another dozen cities seek to do the same. In some cities, all immigrants can vote (documented and undocumented), while other cities limit the vote to only immigrants with work permits.

Globally, immigrants vote in 45 countries in nearly every continent in local, regional, and national elections. (See VotingRightsForAll)

New Report — “Immigrant Voting and the Movement for Inclusion in San Francisco,” published by Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), SEPTEMBER 2023