... Brookline Massachusetts. Figures.
Brookline Brookline legal residents who arent U.S. citizens could secure the right to vote in local elections, if Town Meeting members and state lawmakers back a proposal filed by the towns school committee chairwoman.
Rebecca Stone, a Town Meeting member from Precinct 3 and chairwoman of the School Committee, said the proposal is a positive way to push back against anti-immigrant attitudes at the state and national level.
Rather than simply condemning what we dont like and saying this is a terrible thing, maybe there is something we can do in Brookline that [shows] we have a different attitude toward immigrants, said Stone.
Proposal would allow non-U.S. citizens to vote in Brookline local elections - Brookline, Massachusetts - Brookline TAB
Is this even constitutional?
wow! apparently, it is not unconstitutional, on the federal level?
The Right To Vote
The Constitution contains many phrases, clauses, and amendments detailing ways people cannot be denied the right to vote. You cannot deny the right to vote because of race or gender. Citizens of Washington DC can vote for President; 18-year-olds can vote; you can vote even if you fail to pay a poll tax. The Constitution also requires that anyone who can vote for the "most numerous branch" of their state legislature can vote for House members and Senate members.
Note that in all of this, though, the Constitution never explicitly ensures the right to vote, as it does the right to speech, for example. It does require that Representatives be chosen and Senators be elected by "the People," and who comprises "the People" has been expanded by the aforementioned amendments several times. Aside from these requirements, though, the qualifications for voters are left to the states. And as long as the qualifications do not conflict with anything in the Constitution, that right can be withheld. For example, in Texas, persons declared mentally incompetent and felons currently in prison or on probation are denied the right to vote. It is interesting to note that though the 26th Amendment requires that 18-year-olds must be able to vote, states can allow persons younger than 18 to vote, if they chose to.
Thanks to Roy Neale for the idea and to Brian Shaprio for some clarifications.
Things That Are Not In the U.S. Constitution - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net
unless the state of massachusett's constitution prohibits it....?