A “Vote Here Tuesday” sign is seen in Burlington, Vt., in 2020. In 2023, the city voted to allow non-U.S. citizens who are in the country legally to vote in local elections. But their turnout remains low.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Alex Wong/Getty Images
A “Vote Here Tuesday” sign is seen in Burlington, Vt., in 2020. In 2023, the city voted to allow non-U.S. citizens who are in the country legally to vote in local elections. But their turnout remains low.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Three cities in Vermont now allow non-U.S. citizen residents to vote in local elections.
Winooski is one of those municipalities. It just held its third local election with noncitizen voting.
“Thirteen hundred and 45 people participated in our annual city and school election,” Winooski Clerk Jenny Willingham said about March’s contests. “Eleven of those ballots cast were from our all-resident voting,” a category that includes green-card holders, refugees and asylum-seekers.
In Vermont and elsewhere, municipalities that allow noncitizen voting in local elections have seen similar low voter registration rates and turnout. Local leaders are trying to parse out why.
That’s as noncitizen voting has emerged as a national flashpoint this election year. Republicans including former President Donald Trump are pushing legislation aimed at stopping noncitizens from voting in federal elections — which is already illegal and, by all accounts, very rare.