Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Voting Rights for Non-Citizens
The right of aliens to vote, specifically in the United States, has always comprised a controversial issue. Aside from the commentary raised by the Trump administration on the status of non-citizens, an alien has consistently been defined as a person that does not possess belonging or citizenship in another country. Since voting privileges are meant for citizens, it is wrong to expect aliens or foreigners to exercise the same right as the electorate. However, while such reasoning is expected, the present era is becoming complex as far as such issues are concerned due to the extent to which national borders have become blurred. With processes such as globalization and immigration occurring consistently, the implications on voting rights for non-citizens are seemingly opposed to limitations that restrict foreigners or aliens from exercising the privileges in question. Furthermore, it is impossible to ignore the effect that non-citizens impose on the development of a country but retain the incapacity to participate in elections at the national and local level. The discourse supports the integration of non-citizen voting due to the impact that foreigners impose in the establishment of a strong, inclusive, and participatory American society.
Most nation-states, including the United States, tend to associate the concept of citizenship with ideas of coexistence between individuals that possess equal rights, social inequality, and rising social factions that must undergo suffrage to be recognized fully as citizens. Some of these persons are usually expelled from specific privileges due to their involvement in particular wrongdoings while others seemingly constitute immigrants or aliens that have not undergone the naturalization process (Coll 995). In other cases, individuals encounter official and informal frameworks of inequity associated with dimensions such as race, sexuality, gender, class, or disability that circumvent the holistic application of their inherent privileges (Varsanyi 118). In situations whereby voting rights were prescribed for non-citizens, limitations that restricted the implementation of healthcare reforms during the Obama era were lessened hence leading to the application of the Affordable Care Act (Richman, Chattha, and Earnest 153). Despite this, the discourse in question focuses on the degree to which one’s status as an alien establishes obstacles that limit them from exercising voting privileges despite the implications posed on the country’s development.
However, the aspect that paints non-citizen voting as a contentious issue is based on the perception behind the right to vote, specifically within the American context. Indeed, voter-based suffrage has always comprised a core site for challenging inequities in political and citizenship rights in the United States. Many “naturalized” Americans view their statuses as law-abiding, morally inclined, and holistically enfranchised persons that are delineated by their duty and obligation to vote (Coll 995). The situation illustrates why the vote is usually seen as more than an official form of political agency or sanction – a social distinction. Events exemplified by the Civil Rights movement, the abolitionist movements, and the women’s suffrage, specifically during the 19th century illustrated the extent to which voting rights were focused on the exclusion of citizens due to their racial and ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, over the last four decades, elections in the United States have been incapable of amassing over 60 percent of participation by voters that are eligible (Coll 997). Seemingly, concerns related to non-voting rights have exhibited a particular feeling of disenfranchisement among minority groups in the United States.
Rather than facilitate the exclusion of non-citizens from voting, the focus should be inclined towards allowing the respective groups to participate in the individual process. After all, voting rights for such groups was permissible in several early territories and states in the United States. In colonial America, non-citizens participated in elections and, in different situations, assumed office in over 40 states between the 1770s and the conclusion of the First World War (Hayduk 65). In fact, allowing non-citizens to vote was viewed as a way of training migrants to constitute good citizens and pertinent participants in elections after undergoing naturalization. The advocacy of non-voting rights is also based on the responsibilities that they assume. Non-citizens bear most of the roles and responsibilities that the citizenry exercises despite the lack of representation (Beckman 156). Accordingly, a large number of non-citizens bear responsibilities associated with the development of the country by participating in financial obligations that are usually predisposed towards citizens, specifically taxation (Beckman 146). In this respect, it would be fair and ethical to provide the respective populaces with the right to vote.
The right to
vote for non-citizens has always comprised an issue of concern in the United States.
Recent arguments encompassing the subject have emphasized the extent to which America
excludes people from voting based on dimensions such as race, class, gender,
sexuality, and disability. However, the discourse, which is centered on the
exclusion of foreigners/aliens, addresses the extent to which the restrictions
on non-voting rights are plainly exclusive. After all, the history of suffrage
movements in the United States has illustrated the extent to which the
exclusion of persons from exercising voting rights was based on dimensions
associated with race, ethnicity, and to a considerable degree, gender. Instead
of viewing voting as a form of social distinction inaccessible by certain groups
within the American population, the focus should shift towards the advocacy for
non-voting rights which were arguably exercised in between the 18th
and 20th century, imposed a significant impact in the reformation of
the health care during the era of 111th Congress, and constitute a
privilege that should be awarded relatively to non-citizens due to the
contributions made towards America’s development.
Works Cited
Hayduk, Ron. Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States. Routledge, 2010.
Richman, Jesse T., Gulshan A. Chattha, and David C. Earnest. “Do Non-Citizens Vote in U. S. Elections?” Electoral Studies, vol. 36, 2014, pp. 149-157.
Varsanyi, Monica W. “The Rise and Fall (and Rise?) of Non-Citizen Voting: Immigration and the Shifting Scales of Citizenship and Suffrage in the United States.” Space and Polity, vol. 9, no. 2, 2005, pp. 113-134.
Beckman, Ludvig. “Citizenship and Voting Rights: Should Resident Aliens Vote?” Citizenship Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, 2006, pp. 153-165.
Coll, Kathleen. “Citizenship Acts and Immigrant Voting Rights Movements in the US.” Citizenship Studies, vol. 15, no. 8, 2011, pp. 993-1009.