Contested Elections and the Power of New Voters: The Impact of Extending Voting Rights to Non-Citizens

Abstract

This paper examines the redistributive effects of extending voting rights to non-citizens. We propose that the impact of such reforms depends on their ability to alter the political status quo, particularly in closely contested elections. Using municipal-level data, we analyze the 1975 Swedish electoral reform, which granted non-citizens voting rights in local elections. Our findings reveal a significant, one-time increase in local taxes following the reform, with larger increases in municipalities with higher shares of non-citizens. Crucially, this effect was concentrated in municipalities where the enfranchised electorate was sizable enough to potentially influence the previous election’s outcome. These findings underscore the critical role of electoral competitiveness in determining the redistributive impact of suffrage extensions and offer new insights into the intersection of immigration and local governance.

Keywords: Voting, Redistribution, Electoral reform, Immigration, Local elections