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City Council Meeting Date <br />September 19, 2023 <br />Subject <br />Noncitizen Voting in City Council and Mayoral Elections <br />Councilmember-Requested Item Title <br />Discuss and consider directing the City Manager and the City Attorney to prepare for the City Council’s <br />consideration resolution options to place the issue of noncitizen voting in city council and mayoral <br />elections on the November 2024 ballot. Further discuss and consider directing the City Manager to <br />prepare a cost and implementation analysis of establishing noncitizen voting. <br />Discussion <br />Noncitizens in the United States have historically been allowed to vote in federal, state, and local <br />elections. Between 1776 and 1926, forty states at some point allowed noncitizen residents to legally <br />vote.1 Currently, seventeen jurisdictions allow noncitizen residents to legally vote in local elections, <br />including San Francisco and Oakland.2 <br />Noncitizen residents make up about 24 percent of Santa Ana’s population.3 About 30 percent of voting- <br />age residents in Santa Ana are noncitizens.4 The American Immigration Council estimates that immigrant <br />residents, including noncitizen residents, in Orange County contributed $10.5 billion in taxes in 2018.5 <br />Santa Ana is home to the largest share of noncitizen residents of all Orange County cities, and nearly 20 <br />percent of the county’s noncitizen resident population resides in Santa Ana.6 While all residents <br />regardless of citizenship status contribute to the local economy and are subject to local laws, many are <br />unable to participate in the elections of local lawmakers who shape the local policies they must abide <br />by, including local tax policies. <br />In August 2023, the California First District Court of Appeal rejected a legal challenge to San Francisco’s <br />charter amendment that allows for noncitizen voting in school board elections. The Court reasoned that <br />“neither the plain language of the Constitution nor its history prohibits legislation expanding the <br />1 Ron Hayduk, “Early American History,” accessed September 9, 2023, <br />https://www.immigrantvotingrights.com/americanhistory. <br />2 Ron Hayduk, “Cities with Rights,” accessed September 9, 2023, https://www.immigrantvotingrights.com/cities-with-rights <br />3 United States Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimate, 2021. <br />4 United States Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimate, 2021. <br />5 American Immigration Council, “Map the Impact,” accessed September 3, 2023, <br />https://data.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/map-the-impact/ <br />6 United States Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimate, 2021.