Right of Foreigners To Vote - Overview

Overview

In some cases, the United States being one such case, some subnational entities have granted voting rights to non-citizens. Conceptions of subnational citizenship have been reasons to grant this right to those normally excluded from it. Other countries have granted voting rights to non-citizens who hold citizenship of a country which is a fellow member of a supranational organization (e.g. members of the European Union). In a few cases, countries grant voting rights to citizens and non-citizens alike.

In a 2003 paper, David C. Earnest (then a graduate research assistant at George Washington University) surveyed practice of voting rights for resident aliens (or immigrants), concluding that although the practice is surprisingly widespread, the details varied considerably from country to country. In another paper, Earnest compared voting rights for resident aliens in 25 democracies, grouping them into five categories as follows:

• 0: No rights (Australia by grandfathered franchise after 1984, Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica, Denmark before 1977, Finland before 1981, France, Germany except for 1989-90, Greece, Ireland before 1962, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands before 1979, Norway before 1978, Spain before 1985, Sweden before 1976, the United Kingdom before 1949, and the United States before 1968).
• 1: Rights granted only by subnational governments (Canada from 1975 to the present; West Germany in 1989, the Netherlands from 1979 to 1981, Switzerland from 1960 to the present, and the United States from 1968 to the present).
• 2: Local rights, discriminatory (Denmark from 1977 to 1980; Finland from 1981 to 1990; Israel from 1960 to the present; and Norway from 1978 to 1981).
• 3: National rights, discriminatory (Australia from 1960 to 1984, Canada from 1960 to 1974, Ireland from 1985 to the present, New Zealand from 1960 to 1974, Portugal, the United Kingdom).
• 4: Local rights, nondiscriminatory (Denmark after 1980, Finland after 1990, Hungary, Ireland 1963 to 1984, the Netherlands after 1981, Norway after 1981, Spain after 1985, Sweden after 1976).
• 5: National rights, nondiscriminatory (New Zealand after 1975; Uruguay for 15 years-resident, since 1952)

After receiving his Doctorate in 2004, Dr. Earnest published a further paper examining the political incorporation of aliens in three European democracies: Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.