This is probably a great reason to become a citizen - US citizen that is. But that means to have to renounce your Japanese nationality. Tough choices, they are.

Several countries allow their permanent residents or landed immigrants to vote. But, the US election system is so heterogeneous and archaic that the Carter center refuses to monitor elections here.

Okay, thanks for the responses. I had known this is to be true for almost all cases, but I was just hoping that there are some local elections or referendum of a sort in which I can cast a vote. Oh well...

I stand corrected by not mentioning the dual-citizenship clause for voting in both countries. Thank you for setting the story straight and myself as well.

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A (live) residential alien--citizen of Japan can not vote in a Hudson County election yet hundreds of dead Hudson County residents can and do. It just doesn?t seem right.

Heights is INCORRECT in his statements.

Holders of dual citizenship can exercise the full rights and responsibilities of the countries for which they hold citizenship, including voting in elections. It *used* to be that US law stipulated that dual citizens couldn't vote in foreign elections, but that was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1967, and the new law was codified by Congress in 1978.

But, as others have stated, you MUST be a US citizen (by birth, or naturalized) of 18 years of age (or, older) and a legal resident of one of the 50 US states, or the District of Columbia. Residents of Puerto Rico and other US territories are NOT allowed to vote in federal elections. The reasons are simple: US territories do not have voting representation in Congress (the congressional representatives of territories are only allowed to speak and/or listen, but not vote, during congressional sessions) and only US States (and, DC) have the right to send electors to the Electoral College.

Quote:

Sorry to get off-topic, but slight correction: You can have dual citizenship (i.e., USA and Italy) and still vote in both USA and Italy elections. Italian co-nationals residing abroad (listed in the AIRE) may vote for Senate and Chamber representatives who represent "Italiani all'estero" (e.g., I know many people who voted for representatives of the North/Central American region of Italians abroad in this current election). However, you cannot vote for Prime Minister as a co-national listed in the AIRE-- you must be *both* a citizen and a resident of Italy to do that.

But, yes, you must be a US citizen to vote in any US election.

You have to be a citizen of the United States and of the local area to vote in an election anywhere in the U.S.A. You can be out of the country but your allegiance must still be registered with one country the U.S.A. For instance, Italy will be holding their elections for Prime Minister, Senate, and Chamber Represenitives. Italians abroad can vote as long as their citizenship is with Italy and not anywhere else. If you either vote in the U.S.A., you cannot vote elsewhere and if you are legal to vote elsewhere, you cannot vote here in the U.S.A.

A residential alien cannot vote in JC or other elections.

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Look in this Hudson County Clerk's web site..maybe it will help.


http://www.hudsoncountyclerk.org/elections/default.htm

Hi,

I was never interested in politics until recently mostly because I can't vote anyway (I'm a residential alien--citizen of Japan with a green card--permanent residential status). But there seem to be some local cases in which citizenship is not required for voting, and I'm wondering if this applies to mayoral election in Jersey City. Does anyone know?

Thanks,

Atsushi