Unable to vote, noncitizen immigrants volunteer

Immigrants who are not citizens yet are getting into the process. Even illegal immigrants are doing their part to help the candidate they would vote for if they could. DP

By JULIANA BARBASSA

From Florida to California, they're working hard on the upcoming election — knocking on doors in ethnic neighborhoods, manning the phones in myriad languages and distributing political flyers. But come Tuesday, they won't vote. They can't: They're not citizens.

The excitement that has made American voter registration numbers soar has trickled deep into the country's immigrant population. But almost two-thirds of the 37.5 million foreign-born people in the United States have not taken the oath of allegiance, and are shut out from casting a ballot.

Non-citizen immigrants, legal or not, are putting their time and their effort where their vote would be.

"There are a lot of people who want to be voters one day, but it can take a lot of time," said Kishan Putta, national director of Indians for McCain. "They do want to get involved. They're calling, wanting to participate."

There have been no efforts to monitor how many volunteers in union halls, ethnic organizations, campaign offices are not citizens. But leaders of immigration advocacy organizations say this population is stepping up.

"There are millions out there who have not yet become citizens, who need somewhere to plug in, to become part of the process that gets those who can out to vote," said Efrain Escobedo, director of voter engagement for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, which has used non-citizens to turn out new voters in states where Hispanics could have a big say in the presidential contest.
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