The city of San Francisco spent $310,000 on an initiative that aims to register illegal immigrants to cast ballots for its school board, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report published Sunday.
Canvassers only managed to find 49 people, so, as The San Francisco Chronicle calculates, that divides into $6,326 for ever voter reached. The Chronicle concluded that the projects were “pretty much a bust the first time out.” (RELATED: San Francisco’s Nastiest City Block Is Just A 15 Minute Walk From Twitter And Uber’s Headquarters)
Those behind the voter registration effort say they signed up the non-citizens themselves because the voters feared having their names discovered by immigration authorities in the administration of President Donald Trump.
San Francisco’s elections supervisor, John Arntz, told The Chronicle that the non-citizens will not be on the same voters’ list as the rest of the city and they will only receive a ballot to cast their choice for school board candidates. (RELATED: San Francisco’s Homeless Population Is Surging — And Getting More Violent)
The experiment has its critics, including Robin Hvidston, who heads a group opposed to lax immigration laws, We the People Rising. Hvidston told The Los Angeles Times that allowing non-citizens to vote for any elected officials could create a backlash even from those who support some latitude on illegal immigration.
Cities in Maryland have already approved non-citizen voting measures similar to the one in San Francisco, Fox News reports.