Non-citizens (aliens) voting rights in Maryland

Maryland cities and towns enjoy considerably more discretion in conducting their local elections than the State and counties. Although the federal and state constitutions and other applicable law must be followed, the State Election Code, Article 33 in the Annotated Code of Maryland does not generally apply to municipalities (except Baltimore City) unless otherwise specifically provided for in the Code (Art. 33, Sec. 1-1(a)(6)). Each municipality promulgates its own election procedures through its charter, ordinances and regulations. (...)

Under state universal registration law found in the State Election Code, a city or town resident that registers with the county also automatically is registered for municipal elections. A municipality may choose to use a supplemental voter registration list to extend the right to vote to municipal residents who do not wish to register with the county/state or do not meet the state’s minimum requirements. At least one municipality in Maryland, Takoma Park, allows non-U. S. citizens the right to vote in city elections. (...)

Kevin J. Best, Municipal Elections, Maryland Municipal League

"Non citizen voting may be an idea whose time has come again, at least at the local level. The 10 million legal aliens in the United States pay taxes to their local communities, their states and the federal government. They serve with distinction in the military and have, more often than not, been drafted along with citizens ever since President Lincoln included enfranchise d aliens in the first conscription act. Moreover, they are governed like the rest of us: oppressed or served by public regulation, dependent on public schools and public services, linked with the American-born in a common destiny. (...)

Alien suffrage is perfectly constitutional, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly indicated, so it is up to localities and states to work out the details. Takoma Park, Maryland, a city of 17,000 on the border of Washington, decided after a vigorously debated referendum in 1991 to extend the vote in local elections to aliens. The Maryland legislature then rejected a move by anti- immigration groups to curtail home rule so as to forbid alien suffrage."

Jamin B. Raskin staff writer April 5, 1993 HEADLINE: Time to give aliens the vote again; green-card power; The Nation / / PKK-LN-VT95 (quotation in Alfred C."Tuna"Snider, University's Speech and Debate Programs, University of Vermont)

Aliens voting rights in the U.S.A.
Le droit de vote des étrangers aux Etats-Unis