Considering the current hysteria over alleged non-citizen voting, it may come as a surprise to many Americans that for a good part of our history, many states not only allowed it, they actively encouraged it. According to “The Passing of Alien Suffrage” by Leon E. Aylsworth, at least 22 states allowed non-citizens to vote during the 19th-century. Some states were trying to fulfill certain population numbers to meet statehood requirements, while others in the post-Civil War period needed to replace the newly freed enslaved population and used the vote as an enticement for immigrant labor. However, as one would expect, they generally only extended the franchise to white men, excluding those of different races and women.
By the 1920s, most states had put a stop to the practice. Waves of xenophobia had swept the nation at the turn of the century following a massive surge of immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. Congress enacted strict immigration quotas that remained until the 1960s.
