Support Non-citizens Right to Vote in Local Elections

By Lucrecia Bermudez

As you're probably aware, I campaigned since 1996 for the Non-citizens right to vote in local elections. I co-wrote the 1996 Non-citizens Right to Vote Act and I participated actively in promoting this enhancement of Civil Rights and Democracy.

This year, Supervisor Matt Gonzalez introduced a ballot initiative to allow Non-citizens to vote for School Board.

Our campaign supports wholeheartedly this effort and we are encouraging all our supporters to get involved and campaign for its passage in the November elections.

Please, read the communication from the campaign below and try to participate in the hearings and community organizing meetings.

Lucrecia Bermudez

---- Parents United for Education

Dear Friends --

Our campaign for immigrant voting is proceeding as well as could be expected at this time. It appears that at least seven supervisors will support putting the initiative on the ballot, and the first two public hearings on the initiative have been very positive. Supervisor Gonzalez has agreed to amend his initiative with three changes that our coalition has proposed, and media coverage has been good. Next steps:

THURSDAY HEARING. This Thursday, July 8th, at 11am, the Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors will have its third and last hearing for public comment on this initiative in room 263 at City Hall. If you have not yet testified, please come; even if you have testified before, you can testify again. We are the sixth item on the agenda. Folks should come at noon (12 pm), and bring reading materials in case there is a delay. If you wish to receive a phone call on the day of the hearing to be alerted as to when the committee will consider our item, please email david.chiu@grassroots.com.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS VOTE. Next Tuesday, July 13th, 2004, starting at 2pm, the full Board of Supervisors will consider the initiative, among other matters, in the main Board chambers. No public comment will be accepted at that meeting, but if you are interested, feel free to attend.

NEXT COMMUNITY MEETING. Next Wednesday, July 14th, 2004, from 5:30-7:30 pm, we will meet at the Community Room of Chinese for Affirmative Action, in Chinatown on the first floor of 17 Walter U. Lum Place in San Francisco. Walter U. Lum Place is a small, one block street running along the west side of Portsmouth Square. It runs between Washington and Clay and is parallel to Kearny and Grant. For directions, visit http://www.caasf.org/directions.html. We need to build the campaign, and would love your time, energy and support for voting by San Francisco's immigrant parents!

In solidarity,

PARENTS UNITED FOR EDUCATION

Parents United for Education is a broad coalition of citizens, immigrants, community groups, labor, churches, elected officials and many others to pass the Immigrant Voting Rights initiative in the November 2004 election. Introduced by Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez, the measure will extend the right to vote in school board elections to all parents with children in San Francisco public schools, regardless of citizenship. The initiative will empower the parents of one-third of our children in SF public schools to have a saying as how their children are educated. To receive more information about Parents United for Education, please contact David Chiu at (415) 793-5462 or david.chiu@grassroots.com or Carlos Petroni at (415) 452-9992 or alternative@sbcglobal.net.