Potential Citizens’ Rights: The Case for Permanent Resident Voting

Howard argues that permanent residents should be given the right to vote in state and local elections because excluding persons from the right to vote is often the equivalent, as a practical matter, of excluding them from genuine representation. His Note proceeds by addressing the history and current state of noncitizen voting, before describing how the current system of representation is inadequate for permanent residents. He then analyzes the constitutional and historical arguments in favor of permanent resident voting and addresses counterarguments to this expansion of suffrage, before describing a proposal to extend suffrage to permanent residents while accounting for many opponents’ concerns with noncitizen voting.