(Name-mce) ListServ Noncitizens' Right To Vote Advocated

[Howe, William]

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http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-immigvote1011.artoct11,0,4708428.st
ory 

 

Noncitizens' Right To Vote Advocated 

 

 

 

By MARK SPENCER

Courant Staff Writer (Hartford, CT)

 

October 11 2006

 

WETHERSFIELD -- In the roiling national debate over immigration, Ron
Hayduk has devoted himself to a cause that catches even some ardent
immigrant rights activists by surprise.

 

In a book published this year and in a presentation here at the Keeney
Memorial Cultural Center Tuesday, Hayduk argued that noncitizen
immigrants, such as legal permanent residents, should have the right to
vote.

 

Although Hayduk acknowledges that the idea initially strikes many people
as far-fetched, he said there is a small but growing movement to restore
- that's right, restore - the vote to noncitizens, especially when it
comes to local elections.

 

"Voting never was about citizenship, historically," Hayduk, an associate
professor of political science at the Borough of Manhattan Community
College of the City University of New York. 

 

Although he advocates noncitizen voting at all levels of government, he
said it is most politically viable at the local level, where government
decisions on issues such as education and public safety directly impact
people.

 

In "Democracy for All, Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United
States," Hayduk says that prior to 1920 about 40 states and federal
territories allowed immigrants to vote in local, state or federal
elections.

 

Connecticut allowed voting by noncitizens from 1776 to 1819, but became
the second state, after New York, to eliminate the practice. Arkansas
became the last state to ban noncitizen voting, in 1926.

 

"This history has essentially been eviscerated from our national
memory," he said.

 

Currently, noncitizens are allowed to vote and run for office in six
localities in Maryland and can vote in school district elections in
Chicago. The city councils in Amherst and Cambridge, Mass., have asked
the state legislature for approval to allow it in their local elections.

 

Nationally, Hayduk said, more than 40 cities, towns or voting districts
have recently considered the move or are now discussing it.

 

A bill in the Connecticut state legislature in 2003 that would have
allowed some noncitizens to vote in town meetings and referendums made
it through one committee, but died in another. 

 

Joyce Hamilton Henry, executive director of DemocracyWorks, which
sponsored Hayduk's appearance, said her organization would back a bill
if it was reintroduced. 

 

Yvonne B. Krosky, who attended the event, came to the United States from
Poland in 1981, became a citizen and now teaches citizenship preparatory
classes in New Britain.

 

Krosky said she had been unaware noncitizens ever had the vote. She
believes that only citizens should be able to vote in state and federal
elections, but feels differently about local elections.

 

"I think it makes sense in local elections, where you have referendums
on your taxes, schools, building roads, the schools," she said.

 

Contact Mark Spencer at mspencer at courant.com. 

Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant 

 

 

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William A. Howe, Ed.D.
Education Consultant for Multicultural Education & Gender Equity
Connecticut State Department of Education - Bureau of Educational Equity
165 Capitol Ave. Rm 312, Hartford, CT 06106 
Telephone: 860-713-6542 * Fax: 860-713-7496
email: william.howe at ct.gov <BLOCKED::mailto:william.howe at ct.gov> 
website: http://www.state.ct.us/sde

11th Annual Connecticut Conference on Multicultural Education, Marriott
Hotel, Farmington, CT -Oct. 16, 2006,
<http://www.state.ct.us/sde/calendar/index.htm>  

 

12th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education,
Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, CT -Oct. 11, 2007

 

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