By Patricia Hart

In the center of a Nepalese restaurant in Queens, a dozen IVote organizers crowded around a cluster of tables. The topic of discussion: coordinating an upcoming mock election for New York City immigrants. Scheduled to coincide with the city’s general election, the mock election is intended to raise awareness and support for immigrant voting in America’s largest city. The meeting’s location was apposite for its topic; it was held in Jackson Heights, one of the most diverse neighborhoods in New York City and the nation.

The restaurant buzzed with greetings and conversation, as members arrived and the circle of chairs expanded. I settled into my seat after a few handshakes and introductions. Ready to contribute to the process, I got out my notebook and familiarized myself with the material strewn across the table. It all seemed a bit haphazard at first glance, but once the meeting began, I quickly realized this group was in its element. From the logistics of counting the vote to the politics of spreading the event to the other boroughs, these community organizers exemplified how people can make a difference in getting jurisdictions to consider laws that expand voting rights.

IVote is a New York City-based coalition that was formed in response to discrimination against immigrants in the United States. They work to highlight the role noncitizens play in communities and bring suffrage rights to New Your City’s immigrant residents. Central to IVote’s work is correcting misconceptions about immigrant voting. One pervasive myth is that immigrant voting is a novel idea. It’s actually been around since our country’s founding. Historically, noncitizens have voted in 40 states and federal territories in local, state, and even federal elections. An upsurge of immigration in the late 19th century resulted in states curtailing noncitizen voting rights, as party leaders feared the uncertain electoral consequences of shifting demographics.

While the number of jurisdictions that allow noncitizens to vote has dwindled – only six Maryland towns permit immigrant voting, a significant departure from the majority of states at the turn of the 20th century – the policy is currently being considered by several localities. Four Massachusetts towns have passed local laws permitting noncitizen voting in city elections, but are waiting for the state’s approval, as they are subject to home rule. More than a dozen other cities are considering – or have recently considered – restoring immigrant voting rights, including New York, San Francisco, and Portland, Maine. Additionally, Seattle has established a taskforce to make voting more accessible for its foreign-born citizens.

As the largest city in the United States, New York’s adoption of noncitizen voting would signal a new day for immigrant voting rights. New York has an estimated 8.3 million residents, 1.3 million of which are immigrants. Under the proposed noncitizen voting bill, approximately 800,000 noncitizens would gain suffrage rights in city elections. If noncitizen voter turnout in New York City were to be equal to the overall turnout of the city’s electorate, the policy could mean an additional 100,000 to 200,000 voters in municipal elections. That would have a huge impact on who gets elected and their policy agendas. Immigrant voting would ensure that politicians have an incentive to craft policies that work for the immigrant community.

That being said, immigrant voting in New York City is a contentious issue and its fate is uncertain. The bill, which is currently stuck in committee, would extend voting rights to any person, regardless of citizenship, who has been living in the city for at least six months - so long as they fulfill other voting requirements, such as age. Mayor Michael Bloomberg opposes the policy, as he believes voting is a right to be reserved for U.S. citizens. But the legislation has enough support within the City Council (31 co-sponsors) to override a mayoral veto.

If the bill does not pass this year, advocates are optimistic that new leadership in the city will push their proposal into law. The prevailing winds of New York City’s politics are on the side of noncitizen voting. 

FairVote does not have a position on noncitizen voting, but we believe such policies should be debated by localities. Find out how you can start a conversation about voting rights in your community at www.promoteourvote.com.  

By Tim Male 
 
Tim Male, a city councilmember in Takoma Park, Maryland, is a member of the Leadership Circle of Promote Our Vote. His city is the first in the United States to pass a resolution calling for a right to vote in the Constitution and concrete actions to protect, promote and expand suffrage. Here he discusses a largely overlooked problem: immense disparities in turnout by age in local elections. 

One of the greatest challenges I face as an elected leader in a small municipality is how to connect with as many constituents as possible. Doing so is complicated in at least three major ways. First, it’s a part time job with no staff support.  Second, in a small city there is a constant need to convince residents that what we do matters in their everyday lives. Third, even if people want to be part of the process, our policies and laws (and those of the state and nation) can be a subtle or not so subtle barrier to participation. 

This summer, Takoma Park is taking a number of steps to address barriers to participation in elections. In May, we lowered our voting age to 16, restored voting rights to people with felony convictions on parole, mandated early voting in all elections and opened voter registration to allow registration right up to Election Day. This month, we are likely to adopt changes similar to Minnesota’s policy that will allow political candidates access to the apartment buildings where half our residents live. 

I’ve learned a lot during this process but one of the things that shocked me the most came from looking at data on participation in city elections by age of voter. With turnout regularly under 20 percent of registered voters, even in contested races for mayor, turnout is lower than I'd like to see for all age groups. But turnout by age cohort is truly disturbing. 

In Takoma Park’s most recent city elections in 2011, for example, turnout was only three percent of registered voters 30 years old or younger -- even though that age group makes up more than 15 percent of registered voters.  In raw numbers, that age cohort represents 13 ages -- everyone 18, 19, 20 and so on up to 30. Only 50 of some 1,900 registered voters participated. One year later, in the 2012 presidential election, more than 1,000 in that same age group voted. Where were they in 2011?

It's even more dramatic when you look at turnout at specific ages. For example, there was a contested citywide election for mayor in 2009. Among voters aged 18 to 25, a grand total of 14 voted. That's less than 1 percent of city residents of those ages, almost all of whom could have registered to vote and participated because Takoma Park has noncitizen voting.   

Another way to look at this data is to compare city turnout and 2012 presidential election turnout. This graph looks at participation by age of those who voted in Takoma Park for president in 2012 with the average number of voters in those age groups in the 2009 and 2011 municipal elections. Around 28 percent of voters between the ages of 45-60 who turned out in 2012 also voted in city elections. However, only a tiny fraction of our younger voters showed up. If 18-30 year old voters had behaved like older ones in recent city elections, we would have had 10 percent more voters participating. 

This data really surprised me. Our City provides open space and parks that are a mecca for the children of our young parents. We build sidewalks and maintain roads. We partially fund half a dozen music and craft festivals each year. Our economic development programs are helping bring new restaurants to town. And the biggest part of our budget is our police force, which works to keep all residents safe, regardless of age. I’ve heard the oft-repeated statistics about how young voters don’t turn out in national elections, but I never had a clue that the problem was so much worse, at least in our city. 

Low turnout among young voters helped guide the city council when it adopted changes like extending voting rights to residents after they turn sixteen. Data from European countries where 16 year olds can vote suggests that the youngest voters turn out in numbers that more closely resemble 40 year olds than 20-30 year olds.  Given the interest and energy shown by our 16-17 year olds in voting, I imagine far more of them will vote than the 12 18-25 year olds who voted in 2009. And once introduced to voting in local elections, experts like Peter Levine (a Tufts professor and fellow Promote Our Vote Leadership Circle member) believe they are more likely to keep voting in local elections.

I don’t have any comprehensive answers to offer that would reduce this disparity in turnout, but our city has done one more thing that might be a step in the right direction. Along with the passage of our Right to Vote Resolution, we created a Task Force of experts and residents that will work together to help us find better ways to increase participation in our local democracy. I plan to be at their first meeting with these statistics and look forward to their ideas on how we can strengthen the participation of all residents in Takoma Park.

By Rob Richie 

This week, the Takoma Park city council passed a charter amendment by a 6-1 vote on first reading that, if approved when before the council again in the coming month, will be in the best tradition of cities and states leading the nation in advancing voting rights. It would establish same-day voter registration and extend voting rights to residents after they turn 16 and after incarceration. Here's why we think it's important.

FairVote's motto is "respect for every vote and every voice." Our reforms are grounded in the belief that bringing more people to the table is the best way to strengthen democracy. Elections with high turnout, real voter choice and fair representation are a nonpartisan way to help representative democracy in our nation, states and cities.

Although changing the Constitution should be an option, most of our reforms can be won by statute, such as the: National Popular Vote Plan to guarantee election of the winner of the most popular votes in presidential elections; fair voting forms of proportional representation to elect Congress and state and local legislators; ranked choice voting(instant runoff) for our single winner offices; and voting access reforms designed to provide for high rates of participation with election integrity.

The one proposed constitutional amendment we highlight is establishing an affirmative right to vote. Adding such language to the Constitution would underscore our nation's commitment to the right to vote and raise the level of scrutiny to any laws that fail to uphold voting rights.

Guided by that vision, we have designed our Promote Our Vote project to encourage immediate action in cities, campuses and organizations to put life into the goal of a constitutional right to vote through concrete action to boost turnout. As underscored by our report on mayoral elections, single-digit voter turnout is all too common in city elections, with particularly stark disparities as measured by race, income, education and age.

Last year, we did a voter survey in a hotly contested special election in our hometown of Takoma Park, Md., that showed remarkable differences in who participated. Turnout was up overall from the most recent mayoral election, but was still less than 20 percent of registered voters. Furthermore, we found that: people of color were 74 percent of residents, but only 35 percent of voters; younger adults were 42 percent of residents but only 7 percent of voters; and people with graduate or professional degrees were 56 percent of voters, but only 10 percent of residents.

Historically, states and cities have been the laboratories of democracy in expanding suffrage and voter access. Promote Our Vote advances resolutions for cities, campuses and organizations to endorse an affirmative right to vote in the Constitution and commit to concrete actions to improve voter turnout, protect voter access when threatened and consider expansion of suffrage rights.

Takoma Park city councilor Tim Male liked the right to vote resolution. Finding a strong ally in fellow councilor Seth Grimes and support from Mayor Bruce Williams, he introduced it to his council colleagues. In so doing, the council decided to move forward on changes for this November's election.

The council this week voted to approve the first reading of a charter amendment that would establish same day voter registration in city elections, extend voting rights to more people with felony convictions and make Takoma Park the first city in the United State to join what has become an international movement to extend suffrage rights to people after they turn age 16. The council may also form a task force to consider other ways to increase turnout such as a revision of the landlord code to ensure candidates have greater access to speak with tenants in apartment buildings.

These ideas came directly from councilors' experience. After Grimes introduced Election Day registration, councilors talked about spending time on the campaign trail with residents only to find out they weren't registered and it was past the registration cutoff date. With Maryland this year adopting a new law to establish same-day registration during early voting, it was all the easier for the city to go one step farther. Another councilor talked about residents who wanted to vote, but could not due to being on parole or under supervision.

The idea of ensuring candidate access to residents in apartment buildings grew from candidates discussing how much easier it was to engage with homeowners in single-family dwellings than tenants in apartment buildings that were closed to them. It turns out that Minnesota has a law with proven procedures for establishing candidate access to apartments in campaign season.

The proposal to extend voting rights to people after they turn 16 may surprise some readers, but the latest research is a revelation. All evidence suggests that cities will increase turnout by allowing citizens to cast their first vote after turning 16. The reason is simple. Many people at 16 and 17 have lived in their communities for years and are taking government classes in high school. That combination results in more people exercising their first chance to vote if they are 16 or 17 than if they are unable to vote until they have left home and school.

Keep in mind that a voting age of 18 means that many people won't get a chance to vote in city election until they are nearly 20. A detailed study of voting age and voters in Denmark found that 18-year-olds were far more likely to cast their "first vote" than 19-year-olds, and that every month of extra age in those years resulted in a decline in "first vote" turnout.

Allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections will enable them to vote before leaving home and high school, and establish a life-long habit of voting.

Austria is among a growing number of nations like Argentina, Germany and the United Kingdom that have extended voting rights to people at 16 for national, regional or local elections. Evidence from Austria confirms that extending voting rights to people after they turn 16 promotes higher turnout for first-time voters and over time. Austria's experience also shows that 16- and 17-years-olds are ready for voting as far as making choices that accurately reflect their views.

Long-time backers of a lower voting age, like the National Youth Rights Association, make a fairness argument as well. Turning 16 has special significance in our culture. At age 16, we can drive, pay taxes and for the first time work without any restriction on hours. Many states already allow citizens under 18 to vote in Democratic and Republican primaries for president, Congress and governor. Many states like Maryland allow people to start registering to vote at 16, making it administratively easy to extend voting rights.

The idea has taken hold here. Testimony at a public hearing was overwhelmingly positive, the Local Weekly endorsed it with a long editorial and letters of support have come in from our state senator Jamie Raskin (see letter), Congressman Keith Ellison (see letter) and leading scholars on youth engagement, such as CIRCLE's invaluable Peter Levine (see letter). I have little doubt that the practice will quickly spread. Indeed, already the mayor of Orange, Ohio has taken note of Takoma Park's potential action, and the one skeptic on the Takoma Park city council came up with excellent ideas of how to introduce local government and voting to young people if the amendment were adopted.

Democracy is too important to be a spectator sport. Let's vote, of course, but also consider getting directly involved in reform work. FairVote Action presents action ideas for all of our reform ideas. If you like the idea of your city, campus or organization having the kind of substantive, generative conversation on the right to vote that has taken place in Takoma Park, visit Promote Our Vote, look at its resources and take action.