--- title: "L.A.'s Noncitizen Voting Measure Is Pulled From the November Ballot" description: "A Los Angeles charter amendment that would have opened a path for eligible noncitizens to vote in city and school-board elections has been pulled from the November ballot, the Los Angeles Times reported — halting, at least for now, a proposal that split the City Council and drew national attention." category: "Los Angeles" category_url: https://herald.la/category/los-angeles author: "Gabriela Soto" published: 2026-06-30T21:48:00.000Z updated: 2026-06-30T21:48:00.000Z canonical: https://herald.la/article/las-noncitizen-voting-measure-is-pulled-from-the-november-ballot tags: ["noncitizen voting", "City Council", "ballot measure", "immigration", "LAUSD", "elections"] --- # L.A.'s Noncitizen Voting Measure Is Pulled From the November Ballot A Los Angeles charter amendment that would have opened a path for eligible noncitizens to vote in city and school-board elections has been pulled from the November ballot, the Los Angeles Times reported — halting, at least for now, a proposal that split the City Council and drew national attention. A high-profile bid to let some noncitizen Angelenos vote in local elections has come off the November ballot almost as quickly as it got on. ## What happened The Los Angeles Times reported that the proposed charter amendment was [pulled from the November 2026 ballot](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-06-30/ballot-proposal-on-noncitizen-voting-in-la-is-pulled-from-ballot) before it could be certified. The specific reason for the withdrawal — and who made the final call — was not clear from the available reporting, and the Herald could not independently confirm those details at publication. The move came less than two weeks after the City Council had voted to place the question before voters. ## What the measure would have done Introduced this spring by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who represents a district stretching across Echo Park, Silver Lake and Westlake, the amendment would not by itself have granted anyone the vote. Instead, it would have authorized the city to later pass a separate ordinance allowing certain noncitizen residents — such as legal permanent residents, DACA recipients and people with Temporary Protected Status — to vote in municipal elections and Los Angeles Unified school-board races, [LAist reported](https://laist.com/news/politics/deadline-looms-la-city-ballot-measure-to-extend-local-voting-rights-to-noncitizens). The council advanced the measure on a 10-5 vote on June 18 as part of a broader charter-reform package, [ABC7 reported](https://abc7.com/post/measure-give-noncitizens-vote-los-angeles-city-elections-approved-nov-3-ballot/19322190/). Analysts estimated it could eventually have affected more than a million noncitizen residents. ## The arguments Supporters framed it as a matter of fairness: residents who pay taxes, send children to local schools and live under city decisions should have a say in them. Soto-Martínez, the son of immigrants, has said his parents spent decades working and raising a family in Los Angeles without the right to vote. Opponents raised a mix of objections — questions about cost and how the county's election machinery would handle a separate noncitizen voter roll, concerns about election integrity and the dilution of citizenship, and, in the current climate of stepped-up federal immigration enforcement, worries that a public registry of noncitizen voters could expose participants to immigration authorities. Some council members who voted no said they backed the idea but had unresolved practical concerns. ## The legal backdrop The question sits in unsettled legal territory. California's constitution says a U.S. citizen 18 or older "may vote," language opponents read as limiting the franchise to citizens. But in 2023 a state appeals court upheld San Francisco's program letting noncitizen parents vote in school-board elections, finding the constitution does not bar localities from expanding the electorate in local contests. San Francisco approved its program in 2016 and Oakland passed a similar measure in 2022, while Santa Ana voters rejected one in 2024. ## What's next Pulling the measure does not kill the idea. A charter amendment can be placed on a future ballot if the council acts again before a filing deadline, and supporters could revive it in a later cycle. For now, though, the most ambitious noncitizen-voting proposal yet attempted by a major American city is on hold — its fate, and the reasons for its sudden withdrawal, still coming into focus. ## Sources - [Ballot proposal on noncitizen voting in L.A. is pulled from the ballot](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-06-30/ballot-proposal-on-noncitizen-voting-in-la-is-pulled-from-ballot) - [Deadline looms for an L.A. measure to extend local voting rights to noncitizens](https://laist.com/news/politics/deadline-looms-la-city-ballot-measure-to-extend-local-voting-rights-to-noncitizens) - [Measure to let noncitizens vote in L.A. city elections approved for the Nov. 3 ballot](https://abc7.com/post/measure-give-noncitizens-vote-los-angeles-city-elections-approved-nov-3-ballot/19322190/)