388 noncitizens voted legally in D.C.’s election

Some 388 noncitizens cast ballots in the District of Columbia’s local elections in November, according to data released Tuesday by Judicial Watch that suggests the city’s groundbreaking experiment in expanding its voter pool saw only tepid interest.

The city says nearly 330,000 residents cast ballots, which means the noncitizens accounted for 0.1% of the total vote. Looking at the share of the District’s noncitizens who did vote, other figures suggest that only about 1% of them did.

They didn’t play a determinative role in any of the city’s races, all of which were decided by margins much larger than the noncitizen vote tally.

But Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said the principle of noncitizen voting is still “an outrage and insult to every American citizen.”

“Congress can and should end this practice immediately,” he said.

The Washington Times has sought comment from the D.C. Board of Elections.

Washington is part of a nationwide movement among deep-blue jurisdictions to allow foreign nationals to cast ballots in local elections.

They are barred, under federal law, from voting in national elections for president and Congress.

The city’s policy is the most aggressive, covering any person who has resided in the District for at least 30 days. That includes illegal immigrants.

City officials must maintain a separate voter registration list for those who are only eligible to cast ballots in local elections. Officials say they can “easily” produce a unique ballot for each voter to ensure they are only participating in the local elections.

Congressional Republicans had a chance to try to derail D.C.’s policy last year. Because the city is a federal district under the control of Congress, laws passed by the city council are subject to congressional review.

The Republican-led House voted in May to block the D.C. policy, but Republicans failed to force a vote in the Senate within the allotted time and the law took effect.

While a hot issue for both conservatives and liberals, noncitizen voting doesn’t appear to be popular with the noncitizens themselves.

Census Bureau figures show about 97,000 of the city’s 690,000 residents in 2023 were immigrants, and of those 48,000 were noncitizens. That means slightly less than 1% of them cast ballots in November.

The Washington Times has previously reported that jurisdictions that embraced noncitizen voting have struggled to get people to the polls.

In San Francisco, which had the most expansive policy before D.C., noncitizens are allowed to vote on school matters, just 235 people on the noncitizen rolls cast ballots during a heated 2022 school board recall election. That’s out of a noncitizen population of more than 100,000 residents.

In Vermont, three cities allow noncitizen voting in local matters. Vermont Public, the state’s public radio and television broadcasting organization, reported in April that Burlington saw 102 noncitizens register and 62 vote on Town Meeting Day last year; Montpelier had 13 noncitizen voters; and Winooski had 11.

The District’s law has so far survived legal challenges.