College Town Granting Vote to Non-Citizens, US Visa News, October 27 , 1998
Jennifer Gordon, Let Them Vote, Boston Review, October/November 1998
Proposal to Allow Immigrant Non-Citizens to Vote, US Visa News, February 23, 1999
Amherst - Cambridge -
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/journal/hj073001.htm
|
JOURNAL OF THE HOUSE. |
|
Monday, July 30, 2001. |
Petitions severally were presented and referred as follows:
By Ms. Story of Amherst, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 4420) of Ellen Story and Stanley C. Rosenberg (by vote of the town) for legislation to provide legal voting rights for permanent resident aliens residing in the town of Amherst. To the committee on Election Laws.
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/history/h04033.htm
Petition of Michael A. Sullivan, Jarrett T. Barrios, Alice K. Wolf and others (with the approval of the city council) that certain residents of the city of Cambridge be eligible to vote in school committee elections in said city.
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/bills/house/ht04420.htm
HOUSE, No. 4420
| By Mr. Story of Amherst, petition of Ellen Story and Stanley C. Rosenberg (by vote of the town) for legislation to provide legal voting rights for permanent resident aliens residing in the town of Amherst. Election Laws. [Local Approval Received.] |
AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE TOWN OF AMHERST.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1 of chapter 51 of the General Laws or any other general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, resident aliens 18 years of age or older and who reside in the town of Amherst may, upon application, have their names entered on a list of voters, established by the town clerk, for the town of Amherst and may thereafter vote in any election for local offices and local ballot questions.
SECTION 2. The Select Board of the town of Amherst is hereby authorized to formulate regulation and guidelines to implement the purpose of this act.
SECTION 3. Nothing in this act shall be construed to confer upon permanent resident aliens the right to vote for any state or federal office or any state or federal ballot question.
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/history/h04503.htm
Order relative to authorizing the committee on Election Laws to make an investigation and study of a certain House document concerning non-citizen voting in the city of Cambridge.
HOUSE, No. 4503
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, August 27, 2001.
The committee on Election Laws, to whom was referred the petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 4033) of Michael A. Sullivan, Jarrett T. Barrios, Alice K. Wolf and others (with the approval of the city council) that certain residents of the city of Cambridge be eligible to vote in school committee elections in said city, reports recommending that the accompanying order (House, No. 4503) ought to be adopted.
For the committee,
JOSEPH F. WAGNER.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
______________________
In the Year Two Thousand and One.
______________________
Ordered, That the committee on Election Laws be authorized to sit during
the recess of the General Court to make an investigation and study of House
document numbered 4033, relative to non-citizen voting in Cambridge.
Said committee shall report to the General Court the results of its investigation
and study, and its recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation
necessary to carry such recommendations into effect, by filing the same with
the Clerk of the House of Representatives on or before the last Wednesday
in December, 2001.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Massachussets)
Wednesday, September 05, 2001
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON-- Amherst, a college town known for its liberal bent, would become
the first community in the state to allow non-U.S. citizens to vote under
a proposal to be debated this week.
An estimated 3,500 permanent resident aliens would be allowed to vote for
local offices and ballot questions, according to the proposal.
Victor Morales, a native of Puerto Rico, says it's ironic that 228 years
after the Boston Tea Party, Massachusetts residents who pay local taxes are
not allowed to decide how their money is spent.
"It's 'taxation without representation,' " said Morales, an Amherst School
Committee member since 1985. "They should have a right to have a say on things
that affect them."
The proposal, which will be debated before the Legislature's Election Laws
Committee tomorrow, would allow permanent resident aliens -- noncitizens
who live legally in the U.S. -- to vote in local elections.
They would still be excluded from state and federal elections.
But Gregg Anderson, a high school history and economics teacher, said simply
paying taxes doesn't confer the sense of responsibility and history that
go along with the right to vote.
"There's something mystical about the vote," said Anderson, 46, an Amherst
resident since 1990.
Amherst, a town of 35,000 that is home to the University of Massachusetts'
main campus, has developed a liberal reputation, even compared to the rest
of liberal Massachusetts, giving rise to its description as "25 square miles
surrounded by reality."
Town meeting voters have already approved the proposal to allow noncitizens
to vote three times in the last five years. The proposal needs to be approved
by the state Legislature, even though it would only apply to Amherst.
Chicago and New York have allowed noncitizens to vote in school board elections,
but Amherst would be the first community in Massachusetts to allow permanent
resident aliens to vote.
Morales, 50, who as a native of Puerto Rico is already a U.S. citizen, says
Amherst has a large number of resident aliens because of the presence of
UMass.
One UMass professor Morales knows lived in Amherst for 37 years, raising
his children and partaking in local affairs, but was unable to vote until
finally changing his citizenship, Morales said.
"If we want to look at the United States supporting democracy around the
world, we should have more democracy inside the country," he said.
But Anderson, who was born in Minnesota and calls himself "pro-immigration,"
disagrees.
Anderson has played hockey with a group of Canadians for 10 years, and his
golf partner for five years was British.
"God love them, but if they really want to vote, they should become citizens,"
he said.
http://www.gazettenet.com/09052001/news/6092.htm
By MARY CAREY, Staff Writer
Daily Hampshire Gazette Wednesday, September 5, 2001
-- A home rule petition that would allow legal aliens in Amherst to vote in local elections will be heard Thursday by the state Legislature's Election Laws Committee.
It is the third time in five years the bill will get a hearing, and proponents believe it is gaining momentum. Supporters, including Mel King, a former Boston mayoral candidate who founded the Rainbow Coalition, have said they will testify in favor of the proposed local regulation. The Legislature's Black Caucus also has said it will support it.
The proposal would allow noncitizen, legal immigrants 18 years or older with a residence in Amherst to vote in any election for local offices and local ballot questions. An act of the Legislature and approval of the governor are required to put it into place.
An estimated 3,500 permanent resident aliens could vote for local offices and ballot questions, according to the proposal.
The Election Laws Committee previously had put the proposal into study, effectively tabling it.
Amherst Town Meeting has consistently endorsed the measure, initially proposed in 1996 by Vladimir Morales, a Town Meeting and Amherst School Committee member. For the first time this summer, the Amherst Select Board voted to approve it as well.
Other communities, including Cambridge, have similar initiatives pending, but the bill's sponsors, Rep. Ellen Story, D-Amherst, and Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, have not been able to bring it before the full Legislature for a vote. The proposal has attracted a fair amount of attention, nevertheless.
In an Oct. 31, 1998, editorial, The Boston Globe argued that it would discourage resident aliens from applying for full citizenship. "If becoming a citizen seems too great a commitment, immigrants do not have to make it, but they should not expect to be full partners in the democratic process until they do," the Globe opined.
Morales, a Puerto Rican who has lived in Amherst since 1983, argues that resident aliens pay taxes, can be drafted for the military and incarcerated. "I'm not encouraging or discouraging people from becoming citizens," he said.
U.S. immigrants who were not legal aliens were allowed to vote in national, state and local elections until 1926, Morales said. "What I'm asking for is a continuation of history." Restoring the right would be in keeping with the Constitution, he said.
In Morales' view, the proposed measure is hardly revolutionary. Resident aliens with children in the public schools can now vote for school committee members in New York City, and the New York State Assembly is considering a bill that would extend voting rights to aliens statewide.
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/history/h04420.htm
Petition of Ellen Story and Stanley C. Rosenberg (by vote of the town) for legislation to provide legal voting rights for permanent resident aliens residing in the town of Amherst.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
______________________
In the Year Two Thousand and One.
______________________
AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE TOWN OF AMHERST.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1 of chapter 51 of the General Laws or any other general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, resident aliens 18 years of age or older and who reside in the town of Amherst may, upon application, have their names entered on a list of voters, established by the town clerk, for the town of Amherst and may thereafter vote in any election for local offices and local ballot questions.
SECTION 2. The Select Board of the town of Amherst is hereby authorized to formulate regulation and guidelines to implement the purpose of this act.
SECTION 3. Nothing in this act shall be construed to confer upon permanent resident aliens the right to vote for any state or federal office or any state or federal ballot question.
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/bills/house/ht04564.htm
HOUSE, No. 4564
|
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, September 24, 2001. The committee on Election Laws, to whom was referred the petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 4420) of Ellen Story and Stanley C. Rosenberg (by vote of the town) for legislation to provide legal voting rights for permanent resident aliens residing in the town of Amherst, reports recommending that the accompanying order (House, No. 4564) ought to be adopted. For the committee, JOSEPH F. WAGNER. |
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
______________________
In the Year Two Thousand and One.
______________________
Ordered, That the committee on Election Laws be authorized to sit during
the recess of the General Court to make an investigation and study of House
document numbered 4420, relative to non-
citizen voting in the town of Amherst.
Said committee shall report to the General Court the results of its investigation
and study, and its recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation
necessary to carry such recommendations into effect, by filing the same with
the Clerk of the House of Representatives on or before the last Wednesday
in December, 2001.