Montpelier votes to allow non-citizens to vote locally

[SnoBrdr]

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Voters in Vermont's capital city have approved seeking a charter change to allow non-U.S. citizens to vote in municipal elections.

The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus reports Montpelier is the first Vermont city or town to pass the measure.

City Clerk John Odum has said that on every Town Meeting Day, when residents vote on local issues, one or two people ask why their spouses can't give input on city decisions.

Winooski also was considering having residents cast ballots on whether to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections but city officials said the issue needed more community discussion.

Several Maryland communities allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, and San Francisco does for school board elections. Any city charter changes in Vermont have to be approved by the Legislature.

[Mister Moose]

Seems to me that if you sanction local voting by virtue of residency, then what you have done is create a second class of citizen - local only. That would then be followed by a State level of citizenship. And out West, where county government controls schools and roads, a county determination of citizenship.


I like the binary version better. You are either a citizen, or you aren't.