Which Maryland towns currently allow noncitizen voting and what municipal charter language enables it?
Executive summary
A cluster of Maryland municipalities — ranging from tiny Barnesville to the city of Frederick — currently permit noncitizen residents to vote in local elections by using municipal charter language or council ordinances that define "qualified voters" without requiring U.S. citizenship (Ballotpedia; Maryland Matters; Newsweek) [1] [2] [3]. That power flows from Maryland law and municipal charters: the state’s constitution and election code permit towns (excluding Baltimore) to set local voter qualifications and many charters explicitly define residency and age — not citizenship — as the test for municipal suffrage (Immigrant Voting Rights; Ballotpedia) [4] [1].
1. Which Maryland municipalities currently allow noncitizen voting — the on-the-ground roster
Multiple sources compiling municipal actions list largely the same set of jurisdictions that already enfranchise noncitizen residents: long-standing adopters such as Takoma Park, Somerset, Barnesville, Garrett Park, Glen Echo, Martin’s Additions and others in Montgomery County; Prince George’s County adopters including Hyattsville, Mount Rainier and Riverdale Park; and recent additions and larger jurisdictions such as Edmonston and Frederick — with reporting and tracking summaries from Ballotpedia, Radio Free Hub City, Maryland Matters and Newsweek confirming this cluster as of late 2024 through January 2026 [1] [5] [2] [3].
2. How municipal charter language actually enables noncitizen voting — concrete charter examples
The mechanism is straightforward and textual: municipalities either have charter provisions or ordinances that define "qualified voters" by residence and age rather than U.S. citizenship. For example, the Barnesville town charter explicitly defines qualified voters as those “having resided therein for six months previous to any town election and being eighteen years of age,” language that creates eligibility based on residency and age without a citizenship requirement (Immigrant Voting Rights; Ballotpedia) [4] [1]. Somerset’s charter similarly ties the franchise to age (16+), a short residency window, and registration, again omitting citizenship as a prerequisite (Ballotpedia) [1]. Takoma Park’s municipal materials state directly that a resident need not be a U.S. citizen to vote for mayor and city council, demonstrating the same approach via municipal code and practice (Ballotpedia) [1].
3. Recent expansions and municipal votes — who joined when
Several jurisdictions adopted changes in the 2020s: Edmonston’s town council voted in late 2024 to permit noncitizens to vote in municipal elections and to restore voting to “returning citizens,” a split council vote recounted by Maryland Matters [2]. Frederick’s charter amendment in 2024 made it the largest Maryland locality to allow noncitizen voting, aligning the city with the smaller municipalities that had previously done so, as covered by Newsweek and local outlets [3] [6].
4. Administrative, legal limits and safeguards cited in reporting
Municipal noncitizen voting is narrowly framed and administratively segregated from state and federal elections: local clerks keep separate registries for municipal noncitizen voters while the state maintains the citizen voter roll for state and federal contests, a practice described in advocacy reporting and compilations (Immigrant Voting Rights) [4]. Federal law already bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and municipalities’ actions explicitly apply only to local contests (Maryland Matters; Democracy Docket) [2] [7]. State-level proposals — such as a 2026 House bill on municipal voting rights — indicate legislative attention but do not, in the available reporting, replace existing charter-based arrangements (mgaleg document) [8].
5. Sources, caveats and what remains unconfirmed in publicly compiled reporting
The consolidated lists in Ballotpedia and local reporting provide the best contemporaneous inventory, but municipalities add or rescind charter rules by council vote or referendum and reporting dates vary across sources, so the exact roster can change; Ballotpedia’s January 2026 snapshot and Maryland Matters’ reporting of Edmonston’s November 2024 vote are the primary anchors for this overview [1] [2]. Reporting documents charter text for several towns (Barnesville, Somerset, Takoma Park) but full charter language and the precise municipal ordinances for each listed jurisdiction are not exhaustively reproduced in the sources provided here, so confirming exact wording for every town would require consulting each town’s charter or clerk’s office directly [4] [1].