Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[ANC1D]

For Immediate Release
Contact: Barbara Bitondo (202-299-9418)
Sep 10, 2003

MOUNT PLEASANT ANC DEMANDS EXPANSION OF VOTING RIGHTS TO ALL LEGALLY- DOCUMENTED RESIDENTS IN LOCAL ELECTIONS

WASHINGTON (DC) --- On Monday, September 8th, the Mount Pleasant ANC (ANC-1D), which represents one of the highest concentrations of non-US citizens in the District, became the first ANC to formally support local voting rights for all documented residents of the District. The ANC passed a resolution in support of the proposal by a vote of 5 – 0 with Commissioner Will Grant abstaining.

ANC Chair Dominic Sale emphasized the potential benefits to the community as a whole that would follow from such an expansion of the voting franchise. “This [initiative] opens up a whole new world to people who don't have a voice in the community.” said Sale, “If we give people this opportunity, I believe they will come to feel a greater ownership of the community, they will take up greater responsibilities in the community, and the seeds will be sown for resolving some of the persistent problems that stem from lack of ownership in the community.”

Commissioner Barbara Bitondo, the sponsor of the resolution and the chair of the Latino Committee, addressed the handicap that Mount Pleasant residents currently face without the enfranchisement of non-US citizens.
“Thirty percent of Mount Pleasant residents are not citizens.” said Bitondo, “Whenever we try to advocate for our neighborhood through the political process, it is as if we were flying on three engines out of four, because so many of our neighbors cannot stand with us at election time.”

Bitondo also stated that it was members of the Latino Committee who made voting rights for non-US citizens a priority. Together with representatives of the Voting Rights for All DC Coalition, the Council of Latino Agencies, and other community organizations, they researched the issue, addressed potential concerns of the ANC Commissioners, and worked with Commissioner Bitondo to draft the resolution.

“Mount Pleasant is the historic center of the Latino immigration into the District,” explained Eugenio Arene, the executive director of the Council of Latino Agencies and a Mount Pleasant resident, “and it is very significant that this ANC, through the Latino Committee and this resolution, is the first ANC to reach out to the members of the Latino community who do not have a voice in the political process.”

The ANC also heard from Mario Cristaldo, a spokesman for the Voting Rights for All DC Coalition. Cristaldo stated that the ANC's vote was the first step in a District-wide campaign aiming to achieve local voting rights for non-US citizens in time for the November 2004 election.

“We will use this resolution as a tool to engage other ANCs, other organizations, and eventually city councilmembers.” said Cristaldo, “There are 50,000 District residents who would be enfranchised by such legislation -- we are building a grass roots campaign from the ground up.”

In the past year Mayor Anthony Williams and several city councilmembers, including Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, have expressed their support for expanding the voting franchise to non-US citizens legally residing in the District.
Several municipalities throughout the country have already passed similar legislation, including neighboring Takoma Park, Maryland. Chicago and New York City have set a precedent for large cities by granting non-citizens the right to vote in school-board elections. But if the proposed legislation is successfully passed in the District of Columbia it would make the District the first large municipality to broadly extend the voting franchise to non-citizens.

The Mount Pleasant ANC is an elected body representing the residents of Mount Pleasant. It advises DC government agencies and the city council on issues involving its constituents, and is a formal part of the city government. District agencies are required by law to give "great weight" to the advice of ANCs. The commission holds public meetings on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 pm at 3166 Mt. Pleasant Street, NW.

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