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View Full Version : San Fransico illegals may get right to vote...



mriddick
07-25-2010, 03:26 PM
Today school boards tomorrow...??? Do you really think the idea is to stop at school boards?


Board gets another look at non-citizen voting plan


Election day in San Francisco could have a very different look under a pair of measures that will go in front of the supervisors Tuesday.

In a rerun of a 2004 effort, the board is being asked to clear the way for non-citizens to vote in school board elections. A similar measure, Prop. F in 2004, lost a tight race.

The measure would limit non-citizen voting to the school board election and only include parents and guardians of students in the school district.

Board President David Chiu, a driving force behind the new effort. His argument is that since an estimated one-third of the district's students have immigrant parents, those parents should have a say in their children's education.

While cities, including New York and Chicago, have allowed non-citizens to participate in school elections, the San Francisco ordinance would be on a fast-track to the courts if it makes the ballot and gets passed. The city controller also estimates it would cost nearly $800,000 to run a separate election, although Chiu believes the cost could be slashed by running a mail-only election.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi also wants to put a plan to allow same-day voter registration on the November ballot. The measure, which only would affect city elections, would allow voters who don't register by the state deadline, which is 15 days before the election, to cast a provisional ballot on election day.

None of this will make life any easier for city election officials. Since the local changes can only affect local changes, each election would have a different set of rules. And if non-citizens are allowed to vote, it would require a separate voting list for the school board elections.

"This is all doable," said John Arntz, the city's election chief. "But it's a lot more complicated than it appears to casual observers."

Posted By: John Wildermuth (Email) | July 19 2010 at 04:00 PM

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?blogid=55&entry_id=68222#ixzz0ujBJ0XOZ