scotslad60

I know that I am not allowed to vote in National elections here unless I am a US citizen (I am a permanent resident) but what about local elections? What about standing as a candidate for local borough panel election? Stuff like that - Anyone know? Or know where I might get that info?

rpjs

In general no you can't vote or stand for election at any level unless you're a US citizen. There are a few municipalities in (edit) Maryland that allow non-citizen residents to vote, and there have been a few proposals here and there but none of have passed as yet: Wikipedia has some information.

sir_eccles

Probably best to avoid it really. No idea how registering for a local election only might work and the risk of accidentally registering to vote in a federal election would probably be too great.

rpjs

Pulaski

That could seriously impact your application for citizenship, if you eventually decide to go down that route.

phodg

I have a friend who stood for local aldermanic elections, got elected and then discovered he wasn't eligible as he is a permanent resident, not a citizen. He had to resign immediately.

Bob

There's a handful of states that allow you to vote in local municipal elections. Up in Maine, you could vote for school board, mayor and that kind of stuff. Can't vote for anything major like gov/rep/senator kind of stuff.

Just isn't worth the hassle though for the reasons mentioned above.

Also, don't think PA is one of those states anyway.

JAJ

Agree with the other comments. Don't even think about voting until a citizen, even if it's allowed in that locality, there are too many complications.

And as an aside, also watch out for (and avoid) the risk of being automatically registered to vote when you obtain a driving license.

scotslad60

Thanks all. Good point about the driving licence too, never thought of that when I got mine.

I DON'T want to get into American politics nor try to help influence the big story in any way. Just sounding out what others think, about getting really involved in the local community.

Guindalf

Just keep your Communist Party membership up to date and you'll be fine!