Los Angeles City Council pulls proposal for non-citizen voting from November ballot

Los Angeles City Council members on Tuesday agreed to scrap a proposal that would put a measure to allow for non-citizen voting on the November ballot. 

Instead, the council unanimously voted for further study with the eventual goal of the proposal returning to voters sometime before 2028. The decision was made after several council members voiced concerns about the potential impact of the proposal, including Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, who introduced the proposal in April and advocated for the amendment. He said that he had not done enough outreach on the proposal. 

"I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. The Black and Brown solidarity is deep to me, and means something to me, and I don't want this to be something that gets pushed through that is seen as negative, something negative for the city of Los Angeles," he said, noting that he received letters from Black community leaders that raised concerns about the potential impact. 

If the measure had been approved by voters, it would have allowed for the city to implement non-citizen, or "residential," voting for city and Los Angeles Unified School District elections via an ordinance. People with some form of legal status, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, people with Temporary Protected Status and legal permanent residents, would have been included in those allowed to vote in local municipal elections, Soto-Martinez said. 

Councilwoman Traci Park also said that she would not support the proposal, despite backing it two weeks ago. She said that concerns about the city's ability to protect people with mixed legal status if federal immigration agents were to target polling places. Councilman John Lee raised similar concerns about protecting voter roll information.

"My concern is that if this goes to the ballot, the voters won't really know what they're voting for, because we don't really know either," Park said. "These are things that should be figured out well in advance before we put anything in the charter at all."

Lee said that San Francisco, which allows for non-citizen voting, offers a warning on voter registration forms and the city's election website that says any information provided can be obtained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies. 

"These are real issues that must be addressed before Los Angeles asks voters to approve a similar system," Lee said.