“I believe it has been the march of our nation to allow more and more folks the right to vote in our elections,”

— Evanston Ald. Devon Reid, 8th Ward

(From the July 9, 2024 Illinois Policy article, “Chicago, Evanston leaders push for noncitizens to vote in local elections”)

Chicago has over 43,000 migrants and about 425,000 noncitizens are in Illinois, so some elected leaders in Chicago and Evanston want to give them voting rights in local elections while some state senators want to prevent their votes.

Noncitizens are currently barred from voting in federal elections by federal law and state elections by the Illinois Constitution. But changes could be made in who is allowed to vote in local elections, such as school boards and municipal offices.

State Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, in 2023 introduced Senate Bill 1345, which would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local school board elections if they had children attending the school district. Villanueva represents the most heavily Hispanic senate district in Illinois and said migrant students make up at least 40% of the Chicago Public Schools student body.

The bill failed to advance.

Read the entire article here.