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Non-citizen suffrage in the United States
Non-citizen suffrage in the United States has been greatly reduced over time and historically has been a contentious issue. Before 1926, as many as 40 states allowed non-citizens to vote in elections, usually with a residency requirement ranging from a few months to a few years. While federal law does not prohibit noncitizens from voting in state or local elections, no state has allowed noncitizens to vote in statewide elections since Arkansas became the last state to outlaw noncitizen voting in state elections in 1926. Since 1997, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 has prohibited non-citizens from voting in federal elections, with the threat of fines, imprisonment, inadmissibility and deportation. Exempt from punishment is any noncitizen who, at the time of voting, had two natural or adoptive U.S. citizen parents, who began permanently living in the United States before turning 16 years old, and who reasonably believed that they were a citizen of the...
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