The Los Angeles City Council has hit the brakes on a controversial proposal that would have allowed noncitizens to vote. Just two weeks after advancing the measure, council members voted unanimously to pull it from the November ballot. The proposal, introduced by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, sought to open voting to noncitizens in city and school district elections.
onLACA City Insider Daniel Guss reports Soto-Martínez almost tearfully admitted the idea had not been properly vetted and could badly backfire by creating a formal record of undocumented immigrant addresses. Additional sources tell onLACA that city leaders discovered it would reveal the true number of undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles’ sanctuary city, as well as invite additional scrutiny over who is receiving city services.
More public input on the proposal and a legal review are moving forward, but for now, Los Angeles voters will not see the measure on the November ballot.
