A Chinese immigrant has been sworn in to serve on San Francisco’s Election Commission despite her lack of US citizenship, raising national security concerns as one US senator warns that Chinese President Xi Jinping is playing the “long game.”
Kelly Wong, an immigration rights activist who came to the US in 2019 from Hong Kong for graduate studies, was unanimously appointed by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors to the city’s Elections Commission on Feb. 14.
She is believed to be the first non-citizen ever to sit on the commission, after California voters approved a measure in 2020 to eliminate the citizenship requirement to sit on San Francisco boards.
She will oversee voter registrations, vote-by-mail ballots, voting locations and election observations.
“This appointment is a milestone for all immigrant and marginalized communities throughout San Francisco,” Wong wrote on her now-deleted LinkedIn profile last Thursday, according to the Epoch Times.
“Representation matters: thousands of immigrants living in the city hold stakes in politics, and there is 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,” she added.
Wong said she hopes to increase voting engagement among immigrants and those who do not speak English.
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