In November, San Francisco voters will be asked to decide whether to allow noncitizens to vote in school board elections, a complicated, controversial question that merits substantial discussion. But in the end, though it is important to encourage immigrants to involve themselves in their children's schools, giving them voting rights is more doubtful.
Certainly, San Francisco's proposal targets a genuine problem. Many immigrant children attend schools that are shockingly inadequate, and their parents face many obstacles in improving them. Lack of English fluency is a major disability. Many work several jobs, have long commutes and are left with little time to supervise homework, much less participate in school governance.
The stakes are high not only for the immigrants themselves but for the rest of America. Their U.S.-born children, after all, are automatically citizens even if the parents are not, and these children will constitute a steadily growing share of the electorate that will shape our future.
Fairness and equality concerns might also justify giving the vote to noncitizens. After all, they are taxpayers; even the undocumented pay sales taxes and often payroll taxes. Since noncitizens, like everyone else, are vitally affected by official decisions, the argument goes, they should also be able to choose those who govern them.
History too might reinforce noncitizens' claim to the franchise. Until the 1920s, some states allowed noncitizens to vote in state and local elections. (None allows it today, though states still have the power to do so; the San Francisco ballot proposal would challenge state law.) Even now, some municipalities permit noncitizens to vote for school board members; a few extend the vote to all local elections.
To these arguments favoring noncitizen voting, however, there are serious responses. On the evidence, voting is a low priority for most immigrants, just as it is for the 18-year-olds enfranchised by the 26th Amendment. Only a small fraction of the immigrants eligible for citizenship seek it quickly; they wait more than eight years on average, and Mexicans, the largest group by far, wait much longer. Relatively few immigrants are likely to vote in a school board election even if they can; indeed, only a small fraction of eligible voters now vote in these elections.
