Alienated From the Vote: The Case of Non-Citizens

Abstract

Today, millions of adults are denied the right to vote by democratic governments all over the world because they are not citizens of the country where they reside. This makes resident non-citizens the largest group excluded from participation in the democratic process, with the exception of children.1 In Europe there are approximately 23 million resident non-citizens that together constitute 5 per cent of the total population. In the United States, the proportion of resident noncitizens in the general population is even larger. The US Census Bureau counts 18 million non-citizens in the United States, and including recent estimates of undocumented aliens the total rises to 30 million residents who are not citizens and, hence, denied access to the vote (Knickerbocker, 2006; Nayyar, 2002). In some countries resident noncitizens actually outnumber citizens, and yet they have no right to participate in political life.2