The San Francisco Elections Commission has, for what is believed to be the first time in history, appointed someone who is not a U.S. citizen—who isn’t legally allowed to vote—to serve as an official.

The officer, Kelly Wong, was sworn in on Feb. 14, according to local news outlet KQED. It reported that Ms. Wong, an immigrant rights advocate, is a native of Hong Kong who arrived in the United States in 2019 for graduate studies.

She was sworn in by Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin during a ceremony at San Francisco City Hall after winning unanimous support from the board.

“This appointment is a milestone for all immigrant and marginalized communities throughout SF,” Ms. Wong wrote in a LinkedIn post on Feb. 15. “Representation matters: thousands of immigrants living in the city hold stakes in politics and there’s no better way to have us be represented than to serve in leadership positions.

“I am deeply committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of immigration status, has a seat at the table in shaping the future of our city.”

The appointment of a noncitizen to city boards, commissions, and advisory bodies was made possible in 2020 when voters passed a proposal by lawmakers to remove the standing requirement that candidates seeking office hold U.S. citizenship.

At the Feb. 14 ceremony, Mr. Peskin applauded Ms. Wong’s activism. “I’m very impressed by her commitment to enfranchising people who rarely vote, to educating people about the voting process, and to bring in noncitizens and get them the tools they need as they become citizens,” he told KQED.
The former resident of Hong Kong, which now belongs to China and recently saw mass pro-democracy protests over the people’s lack of true electoral representation, said she hopes to improve immigrant and non-English voter engagement in her new home city of San Francisco, which has a ranked-choice voting system. She also told KQED that one of her priorities would be to use resources to improve translations of voter materials.

“I’ve seen how language and cultural barriers prevent immigrants with limited English proficiency from fully exercising their right to vote,” Ms. Wong said.

Ms. Wong will join six other members of the civilian-led commission, whose job is to oversee policy and operations for the city’s Department of Elections.
As all member roles are unpaid, Ms. Wong said she would also continue her work for progressive advocacy group Chinese for Affirmative Action—a non-government organization founded in 1969 whose mission is to protect the “civil and political rights of Chinese Americans and to advance multiracial democracy in the United States,” according to the group’s website.

She has worked for the group since 2022.

Chinese for Affirmative Action in 2016 supported other progressive advocacy efforts to further liberalize voting access, lobbying the government to change the law to allow noncitizens to vote in school board elections if their children attend a school in the district. Their efforts succeeded after challenges in the state’s courts.