Can Noncitizens Vote? Federal Law, Local Exceptions, and Penalties

Noncitizens cannot vote in U.S. federal or state elections. Federal law makes it a crime for any noncitizen, including lawful permanent residents, to vote for president, vice president, or Congress, and every state limits its own elections to citizens. A small number of cities and the District of Columbia allow noncitizen residents to vote in certain local races, but that is the entire exception. Voting outside those narrow local carve-outs can lead to prison time, deportation, and a permanent bar from ever becoming a citizen.

What Federal Law Prohibits

Under 18 U.S.C. § 611, it is a federal crime for any noncitizen to vote in an election held to choose a president, vice president, presidential elector, senator, or representative.¹ Immigration status does not matter. A green card holder who has paid taxes here for thirty years is barred exactly as a tourist would be.

The statute contains one narrow carve-out. If a local election shares a ballot date with a federal race, a noncitizen may still vote on the local portion, but only where state or local law authorizes it and only when the local voting is conducted so that the noncitizen has no opportunity to cast a federal vote.¹ In practice that means a separate ballot with federal offices removed.

State Elections Require Citizenship Everywhere

Forty-nine of the fifty state constitutions affirmatively grant voting rights to citizens, and at least 18 states have added language expressly prohibiting noncitizen voting. Even in states without an explicit constitutional ban, state election codes universally require citizenship to register. No state currently allows noncitizens to vote for governor, state legislators, or any other state office. Legal challenges to these restrictions have consistently failed.

Where Noncitizens Can Vote Locally

Because federal law only reaches federal elections, some cities have chosen to let noncitizen residents vote in purely local contests. These exceptions exist in parts of Maryland, Vermont, California, and the District of Columbia. They do not create any right to vote in state or federal races.

Maryland

Takoma Park adopted a charter amendment in 1992 extending local voting rights to noncitizen residents, with the first such election in November 1993.² Several other Maryland municipalities have adopted similar provisions, including Brentwood, Cheverly, Chevy Chase Section 3, and Colmar Manor. Eligibility rules vary by town.

District of Columbia

The Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 took effect in February 2023 and allows noncitizen residents to vote in all local elections, including mayor, council, attorney general, State Board of Education, and advisory neighborhood commissioners, along with local ballot initiatives.³ Noncitizen voters receive a separate ballot that excludes federal contests.

Vermont and California

Three Vermont cities allow noncitizen residents to vote in local elections after amending their charters. San Francisco lets noncitizen parents, legal guardians, and caregivers of city children vote for members of the Board of Education, using a special registration form that expires each election cycle and must be renewed.⁴ Oakland voters approved a similar school-board measure in 2022, though implementation had not begun as of early 2026.

The DMV Trap

The most common way noncitizens end up on voter rolls is through the driver’s license process. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires states to offer voter registration at motor vehicle offices, and many states fold the offer into the license application itself. A checkbox, a language barrier, or a confusing screen can leave a noncitizen registered without ever intending to be.

USCIS treats these situations differently depending on what the applicant actually did. If a noncitizen was placed on the rolls without affirmatively claiming citizenship, USCIS will not treat that as a disqualifying act during naturalization. If the applicant knowingly answered “yes” to a citizenship question in order to register, USCIS treats it as a false claim of citizenship, even in a DMV context, and the burden falls on the applicant to prove the form did not ask.⁵

If you hold a green card or other noncitizen status, read every form at the DMV carefully and decline voter registration when offered.

Criminal Penalties

Several federal statutes can apply to a single act of registering and voting, and they stack:

Voting as a noncitizen in a federal election carries a fine and up to one year in prison under 18 U.S.C. § 611.¹
Knowingly claiming to be a U.S. citizen to register or vote in any election carries up to five years in prison under 18 U.S.C. § 1015(f).⁶
Knowingly submitting a materially false voter registration application in a federal election carries up to five years in prison under 52 U.S.C. § 20511.⁷

Registering and then voting can implicate all three at once. State penalties apply on top, and some states classify illegal voting as a felony with fines of $10,000 or more.

Immigration Consequences

The immigration fallout is often worse than the criminal exposure. Any noncitizen who votes in violation of any federal, state, or local law that restricts voting to citizens is deportable, and the statute does not require the government to prove intent to break the law.⁸

Falsely claiming U.S. citizenship for any purpose under federal or state law also makes a person permanently inadmissible.⁹ Because standard voter registration forms require a citizenship attestation, the act of registering can trigger this bar on its own. There is no waiver and no expiration. A single checked box can end any chance of a green card, re-entry after travel, or naturalization.

The Narrow Exception for Children of U.S. Citizens

One narrow safe harbor runs through the voting crime, the deportation ground, and the inadmissibility bar. All three of these must be true:

Each of the person’s natural or adoptive parents is or was a U.S. citizen.
The person permanently resided in the United States before turning 16.
The person reasonably believed at the time of voting or claiming citizenship that they were a citizen.¹

The same three-part test appears in the deportability and inadmissibility statutes, so it provides consistent protection across all three consequences.⁸⁹ It is designed for someone raised by citizen parents who genuinely believed they were a citizen. It does not protect a green card holder who registered out of confusion.

What Could Change: The SAVE Act

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (H.R. 22) passed the House in April 2025.¹⁰ If enacted, it would bar states from accepting a federal voter registration application unless the applicant produces documentary proof of citizenship such as a passport, birth certificate, or citizenship-marked REAL ID. It would also require states to audit their rolls to identify and remove noncitizens and create a private right of action against election officials who register applicants without the required documentation. As of early 2026, the bill had not been enacted. The current system still relies on a signed attestation rather than documents.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 611 – Voting by Aliens
2
City of Takoma Park. Proclamation Recognizing the 30th Anniversary of Noncitizen Voting
3
D.C. Law Library. D.C. Law 24-242 – Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act
4
City and County of San Francisco. Non-Citizen Voting Rights in Local Board of Education Elections
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Alert – Naturalization Eligibility and Voter Registration
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1015 – Naturalization, Citizenship, and Alien Registry
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 20511 – Criminal Penalties
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
10
U.S. Congress. H.R. 22 – SAVE Act