Nybol Bol moved to the US from Sudan in 1994. Now she’s a shift manager at McDonald’s, where each week the state and federal government deduct taxes from her pay.
But because Bol isn’t a citizen, she can’t vote.
Bol, a 23-year-old senior criminology major, is part of a small group of USM students who are lobbying Portland’s Charter Commission to put forward a referendum question in November proposing that legal residents awaiting citizenship be allowed to vote in city elections. For the students involved, the issue of allowing immigrants to vote isn’t just about participating in local politics – it’s a matter of human rights.
“They’ve been here for a while and they’ve worked hard to get their citizenship,” said Bol.
One argument for allowing non-citizens to vote is the length of time and the cost it takes to become a citizen. Immigrants must establish residency for five years, Bol said. She plans to apply for her citizenship soon – when she can afford it. Bol said the fee to apply and become a citizen is around $700.
“We are part of the community here; this is [our] adopted country,” Mohammad Dini, a sophomore political science major, told 11 members of the Charter Commission at a public meeting at Portland City Hall on Feb. 23.
“You can die for a country,” he added. “Yet you cannot vote in your city.”
Dini took exception to arguments against the measure that have focused on immigrants’ ability to read and write English. “That says these people are generally ignorant,” he told the commission.
The Charter Commission was expected to vote on the issue at the meeting, but after discussing the issue for nearly three hours, they reached an impasse, and decided to delay the vote to research the legal implications.
Commissioner James Cohen, a lawyer, said state law precludes non-citizens from voting in city elections. “I don’t think it’s a close call,” he said.
After hearing Cohen’s argument, Commissioner Jim Gooch, who initially showed strong support for the measure and made stirring arguments in its favor, ultimately expressed doubt about whether it would stand up in court if challenged.
Aleksandra Derikonja, a junior economics major, attended the meeting with her mother. She became a citizen last February. She said she wasn’t swayed by Cohen’s argument.
“There is nothing in the US Constitution that states what Cohen said. I think that’s just his opinion,” she said. “We agreed not to pay much attention to him,” she added.
Derikonja said her mother, Naveka Simanic, was barred from involvement in decisions affecting her family after they emigrated from Bosnia in 2003.
Some immigrants who spoke at the meeting said they should be able to vote in school board elections and make decisions about how their tax money is spent.
“She worked, she contributed to the community and paid taxes, yet she was absolutely excluded,” Derikonja said of her mother. “I don’t see why we can’t get the issue out to the people and see what they think,” she said.
Derikonja, the president of the Multicultural Students Association, is working with Dini, Bol and other students to drum up support on the commission.
They’ve had help recently from State Senator Justin Alfond (D, Portland), who tried to pass a similar measure on the state level in 2007. It was voted down by a wide margin.
“I said you gotta get seven votes. Find those people that are on the fence,” Alfond said of his advice to the students.
Alfond said he wasn’t sure how much support exists among voters if the commission did vote to make the issue a referendum question.
“We’ve never had a city-wide vote around the issue,” he said.
Alfond said it’s not a cut-and-dry legal issue. “I don’t believe there’s any precedent or any case studies or any laws,” he said.
“That’s just their best interpretation of what the courts would do. Jim Cohen or any lawyer is looking at this the way any lawyer is looking at this.”
The commission is expected to vote on the issue at their meeting at 5:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers this Thursday at City Hall.