Liberals who choose to identify themselves as political progressives overwhelmingly fail the test when it comes to suffrage—the right to vote—and its application to non-citizens.

In the San Joaquin Valley where the percentage of non-citizens represents a significant portion of the general population, the denial of the vote is a discriminatory practice without justification. It exposes a propensity for the continuation of some of the worst aspects of the current social and political system—the perpetuation of racial and economic privilege being the most prominent.

To reverse this inequity, some localities in the U.S. have extended the right to vote in local elections (city and county government and local school boards) to non-citizens with legal resident status. The San Joaquin Valley should do the same.

The upcoming elections afford us a unique opportunity to extend the vote and all the privileges that come along with it to that segment of the population which generously supports all of us through the abundant wealth it produces.

As progressives, we must adopt the idea of suffrage for resident non-citizens as a tenet of our cause. And we must demand that our representatives and candidates seeking our support do the same.