Rep. Lance Gooden warns on voting plans

Los Angeles city voting rules are the thing here — and the fight is really about what kind of election people mean when they say “voting.” Rep. Lance Gooden jumped on a new Los Angeles proposal and framed it as a warning about noncitizens voting. But the catch is that the city proposal and the federal bill he promoted are aimed at different parts of the system. That gap is why this story is getting traction now. (nbclosangeles.com) ### What did Gooden actually react to? Gooden was reacting to a Los Angeles City Hall proposal pushed by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez. The idea is not a law yet. It is a motion to put a question before Los Angeles voters on November 3, 2026, asking whether the city should have authority to explore letting noncitizens vote in certain city elections. Gooden used that as proof that Congress should pass the SAVE Act. (nbclosangeles.com) ### Is Los Angeles already letting noncitizens vote? No — not now. Nothing in Los Angeles changed on May 1. Soto-Martínez’s own pitch says that even if the council places the measure on the ballot and voters approve it, nothing takes effect until the council later writes an ordinance and the mayor signs it. So this is an early-stage proposal with several gates left. (nbclosangeles.com) ### Who would this proposal cover? The public descriptions use “noncitizens,” not just undocumented immigrants. That matters. The proposal being discussed has been described as potentially covering groups like lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients in local races such as mayor, City Council, and Board of Education seats. Gooden’s(nbclosangeles.com)sts. (newsglobenow.com) ### Would this affect federal elections? No. Federal law bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections. The Los Angeles proposal is about city elections only. Think of it like two different rulebooks stacked on top of each other — Washington controls federal contests, while states and cities can sometimes shape rules for local ones. That is why a local voting proposal(newsglobenow.com)eral proof-of-citizenship bill. (congress.gov) ### So what is the SAVE Act? The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections. Congress.gov says it passed the House on April 10, 2025, by a 220-208 vote and was then sent to the Senate. The bill also pushes states to keep noncitizens off voter rolls and creates penalties tied to improper federal registration. G(congress.gov) needed before local experiments spread politically. (congress.gov) ### Why is this debate so heated now? Because noncitizen voting has become a national proxy fight. Republicans have been using it to argue for tougher registration rules, while critics say the bigger election-security risks are elsewhere and that noncitizen voting in federal races is already illegal and rare. Los Angeles dropped a local proposal right into that(congress.gov)er warning. (politico.com) ### Has anything like this happened before? Yes — but it is not a slam dunk. Santa Ana put a similar local proposal on the ballot, and voters rejected it in November 2024. That matters because it shows two things at once: these ideas are legally and politically real at the local level, but they are also far from automatic even in California cities. (nbclosangeles.com) ### Bottom line? Gooden is warning about a real Los Angeles proposal, but he is describing the most explosive version of it. The actual news is narrower: Los Angeles is considering asking voters whether the city should later be allowed to extend voting rights in local elections, while Congress is separately fighting over proof-of-citizenship rules for federal registration. (nbclosangeles.com)