Well, that was quick.
The LA City Council yanked its own ballot initiative proposal that, if passed in November, would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections.
There was nothing in the city’s proposal that would have prevented illegal immigrants from voting.
People with no right to be in the country would be making major decisions about the management and the future of one of America’s great cities.
What would prevent some future, federal administration from throwing the country’s borders open to tip the balance of power in LA toward one party or another — or, perhaps, toward socialism?
Nothing.
No one stopped to ask whether giving noncitizens the right to vote locally would even be constitutional. It is, at least, a complicated question.
Also, no one seemed to have given any thought to how the city would run such an election, and how noncitizens could appear on voter rolls for local elections while also being sequestered from state and federal elections.
It is telling that the initial vote to put noncitizen voting on the ballot was 10-5. It was framed as a way to give hard-working immigrants a voice. The subsequent vote to pull the ballot measure was 14-0.
Hellbound and Down 