The city of San Francisco has appointed a foreign national with no legal voting rights in the U.S. to oversee how its elections are administered.
Kelly Wong, a native of Hong Kong, was seated to the city’s seven-member Elections Commission last Wednesday by San Francisco’s Department of Elections.
According to KQED-FM, Wong was sworn in by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin in a ceremony that was attended by dozens of people who celebrated the occasion.
Kelly Wong is the first noncitizen to be appointed to San Fransisco’s Elections Commission
Here is her victory speech: pic.twitter.com/mznDQk9GWx— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) February 19, 2024
Wong, who is the first foreign national to sit on the commission, was described by the outlet as “an immigrant rights advocate.”
If not for a 2020 city measure approved by citizens of the city, she would not have been eligible to sit on the Elections Commission.
But voters agreed that one did not need to be a citizen of this country to sit on boards and commissions in the Bay City, and so Wong became eligible to be appointed to the commission.
Peskin told KQED that Wong’s advocacy and work with voters inspired him.
Should noncitizens have a role in American elections?
“I’m very impressed by her commitment to enfranchising people who rarely vote, to educating people about the voting process, and to bring in noncitizens and get them the tools they need as they become citizens,” he said.
When asked by the outlet to comment on her appointment to the board, Wong said that she was initially nervous.
But she also said that the fact she only entered this country five years ago should not disqualify her from overseeing elections.
“There are always voices inside my head. Like, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not competent. You’re an immigrant,” Wong told KQED. “This is not your country.’ That’s not true.”
She said she hopes to inspire other foreign nationals to participate in matters of public policy.
Wong concluded, “If I can do it, you can do it.”
The Federal Election Commission does offer guidance on the “participation by foreign nationals in decisions involving election-related activities.”
That guidance states, “Commission regulations prohibit foreign nationals from directing, dictating, controlling, or directly or indirectly participating in the decision-making process of any person (such as a corporation, labor organization, political committee, or political organization) with regard to any election-related activities …”
The FEC added, “Despite the general prohibition on foreign national contributions and donations, foreign nationals may lawfully engage in political activity that is not connected with any election to political office at the federal, state, or local levels.”
The FEC has not specifically commented on Wong’s appointment to San Francisco’s Elections Commission.
The agency has also not specifically commented on a situation such as Wong’s where a citizen of another country will be overseeing this coming year’s elections in one of this country’s largest cities.
San Francisco has allowed foreign nationals to vote in local school board elections since 2016 if they have a child enrolled in the district.
