It was interesting to see that in an advertisement recently placed in the Caymanian Compass by three citizens’ groups - the West Bay Action Committee, Save Cayman and the Concerned Citizens Group - the opinions of expatriates were welcomed when it came to the petition against the proposed closure of a portion of West Bay Road.
A section of the advertisement read as follows: “The framers of the petition believed, and still do, that residents (whether holders of Caymanian Status, permanent residence or a work permit) have the right to express their views on this issue of national importance.”
It is unknown if those placing the advertisement believe expatriates have the right to express their views on other matters of national importance in the Cayman Islands, or if their opinions are only welcomed if they are supporting a particular cause. But let’s assume that these three citizens groups believe that expatriates should have the right to express their opinions on all matters of national importance in Cayman.
There can be nothing of greater national importance in the Cayman Island than the general elections that occur every four years. If Caymanians are really interested in the opinions of expatriates, perhaps there should be some thought of allowing at least some of them the right to vote.
Partially because of increased migration all over the world, more and more countries are allowing immigrants to vote in local and, in some cases, national elections.
Non-citizens today have some sort of voting rights in approximately 40 countries around the world. According to the Immigrant Voting Project, voting rights for non-citizens were widespread in 40 US states and federal territories until the 1920s. In recent years, there’s been a movement to reintroduce immigrant suffrage in the United States and several municipalities there now allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections. In addition, in the past decade legislation has been proposed or significant campaigns have been started to allow immigrant voting in at least 10 US states.
The Immigrant Voting Project contends that immigrant voting, even just in local elections, is a way to promote community participation and responsibility and to prepare immigrants for eventual citizenship, while at the same time giving a voice to those who are disenfranchised.
Every country that allows immigrant voting has different guidelines concerning which non-citizens can vote, most often dependent on how long an immigrant has resided in the country.
With more than two-thirds of the residents of the Cayman Islands currently disenfranchised, a similar policy here could have beneficial results.
One question that would have to be resolved is the threshold of voting eligibility for an expatriate. Should it be that they have resided here at least five years as it is in many countries? Or should they also have to have a key employee designation? Maybe they should already have permanent residence on the virtue of having been in the country at least eight years, or have already been naturalised as a British Overseas Territory Citizen, which would mean they would have been here at least close to 10 years.
Whatever the threshold, allowing a segment of expatriates the right to vote would have some effects. It makes sense that enfranchising people would make them more involved in the community and more interested to learn about the process of government. It would also probably enhance public discourse through the expansion of viewpoints formed from a wider breadth of experiences.
Including a element of the expatriate voting would also start to change the way election campaigns are run. Playing to the electorate with an anti-expat theme - which has been a successful election tactic here in the past, but has led to a widening rift between Caymanians and expatriates - would become an increasingly dangerous strategy. It would also become harder for candidates to ‘buy’ elections through donations, favours or gifts, something most residents believe happens frequently here.
Although there would still be an element of political mud-slinging, as there is everywhere in the world, campaigns here would probably tend to become more issue-driven as candidates search for the common denominator among a wider spectrum of people, who, in the end, tend to all be desirous of similar things.
The truth is, as more and more residents go through the process of becoming permanent residents and eventually citizens, Cayman’s electoral landscape is going to change anyway. In fact, it already has to a certain degree.
The right to vote is seen here as one of the last remaining birthrights, and many people would strenuously object to diluting that right. However, in an increasingly complex and fast-changing world, innovation is the currency of competitiveness. Giving a segment of non-citizens the right to vote would attract a lot of objections, but it could also be a good thing for the Cayman Islands.
The Immigrant Voting Project (www.immigrantvoting.org) is a resource network that promotes research and discussion about reinstating voting rights in local elections for all community residents, regardless of their citizenship. Immigrant suffrage, also known as resident voting, is an innovative policy to promote civic participation and responsibility among incipient Americans and to better educate and prepare them for eventual citizenship; to restore a voice to one of the last disenfranchised segments of the population; and to increase government accountability in communities with large immigrant populations. Resident voting was allowed in the United States for the first 150 years of our history. It reappeared since the 1960s and now is practiced in more than 20 countries around the world, and has been revived in the United States over the last decade. The Immigrant Voting Project collaborates with the New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights and with immigrant voting initiatives around the United States, including those in Maryland, Washington DC, Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut.