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Santa Ana City Council October 17, 2023 Page 2 section 5 of the Constitution ("Home Rule Provision") grants charter cities broad authority over local elections, including "plenary" authority over the election of municipal officers. Id. at 250-52. Because another constitutional provision that gives charter cities authority over the manner of school board elections was originally part of the Home Rule Provision, this indicated an intent to confer charter cities with the same expansive authority over school board elections. Id. at 251-53. Put another way, the court held that charter cities can expand the vote in school district elections precisely because they have broad authority over local and municipal officer elections. The holding and reasoning in Lacy firmly support the legality of expanding the electorate to noncitizen residents in Santa Ana city council and mayoral elections. The Lacy court unequivocally held that the Constitution's voter qualification requirements are not a roadblock to expanding the electorate, reasserted that the Home Rule Provision gives charter cities like Santa Ana broad authority over municipal elections, and emphasized that this authority "permits the voters of each charter city to determine whether [noncitizen voting] is good policy for their city or not." Id. at 243. There is thus no reason to deny Santa Ana voters of the opportunity to decide whether it makes sense to expand the electorate in mayoral and city council elections.' Santa Ana Can Successfully Implement Noncitizen Voting The process of creating San Francisco's immigrant voting program shows that it is possible to develop a successful program when a jurisdiction is proactive and committed to developing solutions. Since the adoption of Proposition N, San Francisco has been working closely with community advocates to ensure that noncitizen residents are protected and can make an informed decision for themselves about whether to vote.' For example, San Francisco has separate noncitizen registration forms and ballots so that noncitizen residents only register and vote in school district elections.4 San Francisco also provides voters with a "Right to Vote Letter" that individuals applying for naturalization can then share with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") and avoid any unnecessary delays in the processing of the applications Advocates, in turn, have worked with the local USCIS office to educate staff on the legality of noncitizen voting in school board elections.' San Francisco's solutions did not happen overnight. It took intentional efforts by city officials and community advocates to identify and research how remove roadblocks. Other jurisdictions are also thinking through both election administration and immigrant rights issues. Oakland, for example, is currently working with county elections officials to implement a similar measure lowering the voting age, and the list of cities and advocates throughout the state that are also looking into how to make immigrant voting a reality is steadily growing.' These statewide efforts confirm that, with enough political will, Santa Ana can develop and implement noncitizen voting program in a manner that protects voters. 2 Although the Court of Appeal warned that its decision did "not leave cities with limitless authority to determine the electorate for school board elections or, for that matter, the electorate of other municipal officers," id. at 259, the language is not a warning for cities like Santa Ana considering expanding the electorate. Instead, the court emphasized that "a charter city's regulation remains subject to the various guarantees and requirements of the state and federal [c]onstitutions." Id. at 259-60 (quoting Johnson a Bradley, 2 Cal. 4th 389, 403 (1992)). In other words, the language was a warning to cities considering measures that infringe on constitutionally protected rights. ' Ron Hayduk, Megan Dias, and Olivia Marti, Immigrant Voting and the Movementfor Inclusion in San Francisco, Chinese for Affirmative Action and Immigrant Voting Parent Collaborative at 17-25, (Sept. 2023), 11Lt1„//s.a��I f.:.c� );;;� cr�lrr ;l �� lc��cl� /2(-)23/O9/2::�•••CAA lznr rz�rora kicr�\ (Y iii�-, R oil F2. ,xif (providing an overview of the efforts between San Francisco and community advocates to develop the noncitizen voting program). 4 See, e.g., Non -citizen Voter Registration Form for Nov. 2019 San Franscisco School Board Election, 1nLt1� „// )rlr..licn sfgcv ct;g/ zLr /clr�)a�nllJf%ir fics;)ar rF nt /\ clzzn /� 2:: cl �%2)JI�F ro�� kra�l�cr� Ar�l�lz�a ticr� ��df;. s Guide to Registration and Voting Process for Noncitizen Residents: Nov. 8, 2022 School Board Election, San Francisco Elections at 11,1)l(2s. //s:ap; s �rl; �w s s �rri;lF r�l/);); sl�ra�cls/24)23/()'/f°til(. V f rUzciF pzri f wF le Esc f'. 6 Supra, note 3 at 18. ' Supra, note 3 at 9. 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