CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Suppose you live in Frederick, Maryland and your school board proposes an expensive referendum. It’s unpopular with the locals. But they’re not the only ones who get to vote on it. Frederick is one of the communities where non-U.S. citizens can vote in municipal elections.
So voters who are not U.S. citizens, who are more likely to speak a language other than English and are less likely to own real property, are overwhelmingly in support of the referendum. Their kids tend to be poorer and use more social services at school. They love the idea of the schools having more English-as-a-second-language teachers, and free breakfast, and more after school programs. So the votes of non-citizens could swamp the votes of citizens. If you lived there, too bad, your taxes will go up.
Oakland allows non-citizens to vote. The city is in a death spiral, overwhelmed by crime, homelessness and drug use. Suppose the citizens who live there want to clean up their city before there’s nothing left. But tough-on-crime policies are unpopular with newcomers. So quality-of-life ordinances go nowhere, because the elected city council answers to both citizens and non-citizens on election day. The people who have skin-in-the-game, property owners, have their votes forever diluted.
In Wisconsin, there’s a constitutional amendment on the ballot this election day that would allow only U.S. citizens to vote in state and municipal elections. This is such a no-brainer it’s amazing that there’s even a debate. I can’t imagine even in liberal bastions like Madison and Milwaukee that Wisconsinites want to share power with foreigners who may or may not agree with them politically.
The vote, at all levels of government, is a right reserved only for citizens. People who are not citizens who have objections about how their schools or their town are run are already getting a free ride if they don’t own land and pay property taxes. Of you don’t like things, vote with your feet, and go back to where you came from… and vote there.
Chris Conley
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