Hayduk, Ron 1958–

PERSONAL:

Born March 15, 1958. Education: Rutgers University, B.A. (cum laude); City University of New York, M.A., 1990, Ph.D., 1996.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Social Science, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, 199 Chambers St., New York, NY 10007. E-mail—ron@ronhayduk.com.

CAREER:

Political scientist, sociologist, educator, and author. City University of New York, New York, NY, adjunct instructor in political science, 1989-98, including at John Jay College, 1989, Hunter College, 1991-92, and Baruch College, 1997-98, faculty coordinator of the City College Internship Program in Government and Politics; New York University, New York, NY, adjunct instructor, 1995; Touro College, New York, NY, assistant professor of political sciences, 1997-2000; Columbia University, New York, NY, adjunct instructor in political science, 1999; City University of New York, Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York, NY, department of political science, assistant professor, 2000-05, deputy chair, 2004-06, associate professor, 2005—. Immigrant Voting Project, cofounder and codirector, 2004—. Has worked as the coordinator of the New York City Voter Assistance Commission; consultant to organizations, including Demos, Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, Brennan Center, and Century Foundation. Member, Professional Staff Congress (PSC); member of board of directors, Brecht Forum; expert witness in court cases.

MEMBER:

American Political Science Association, Urban Affairs Association, Coalition for Voter Participation, Coalition to Expand Voting Rights, Professional Staff Congress (Legislative and Solidarity Committee, 2001—).

AWARDS, HONORS:

City University fellow; City University of New York Graduate Teaching fellow; recipient of faculty development awards.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Kevin Mattson) Democracy's Moment: Reforming the American Political System for the 21st Century, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2002.

From Act Up to the WTO: Urban Activism and Community Building in Era of Globalization, Verso Press, 2002.

Gatekeepers to the Franchise: Shaping Election Administration in New York, Northern Illinois University Press (DeKalb, IL), 2005.

Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States, Routledge (New York, NY), 2006.

Author or coauthor of numerous reports for organizations, including the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, the Century Foundation, and the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives. Contributor to books, including Defense of the Alien, edited by Lydio F. Tomasi, Center for Migration Studies, 2001; U.S. Progressive Political Movements in the 21st Century, edited by John Berg, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003; and Surviving Sprawl: Culture, Ecology and Politics, edited by Matt Lindstrom and Hugh Bartling, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Contributor to periodicals, including National Civic Review, Socialism and Democracy, Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society, and New Political Science. Editor and contributor, with Marcella Bencivenni, of the November, 2008 issue of Socialism & Democracy. Editorial board member, Socialism and Democracy, 1999—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ron Hayduk is a political scientist whose primary research interests are political participation, elections and voting, race and ethnicity, and immigration and social movements. A former social worker, he has worked in government as the coordinator of the New York City Voter Assistance Commission and has been an expert witness in several court cases. He has consulted to several public policy organizations, including Demos, the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, the Brennan Center, and the Century Foundation.

Hayduk is also cofounder of the Immigrant Voting Project, a resource to advance discussion about the practice of noncitizen voting in local elections, often referred to as "resident voting." In his 2006 book, Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States, the author writes about the concept of noncitizen voting as he chronicles the rise and fall, and then reemergence of immigrant voting in the United States. The author examines the politics of and actors in recent campaigns that successfully reestablished noncitizen voting, others that failed, and ones that are currently underway.

Hayduk explains that in more than a half dozen cities and towns in the United States immigrants vote in local elections. The author writes of several campaigns underway to expand voting rights to noncitizens in local elections, and he explains the history of such campaigns. From the founding of the United States through the 1920s, noncitizens have voted in forty states and federal territories, participating in both local and sometimes federal elections. They also held offices such as coroner and school board member. This phenomenon, according to the author, takes place globally in more than forty countries. In his book, Hayduk explores issues such as how broad proposals for noncitizen suffrage could be established and the issue of whether or not undocumented residents should be included in some elections. Hayduk also voices his support in allowing legal immigrants the right to vote, pointing out that they pay taxes, own businesses and homes, and send their children to public school.

"This book … is the most comprehensive survey on the subject of immigrant suffrage in the United States," wrote J. Morgan Kousser in the Political Science Quarterly, adding that it is "an issue that has been revived as the proportion of immigrants has grown since 1970 and the battles over immigrant rights have correspondingly escalated." Kousser went on: "Students of social movements, state and local governments, or public policy will fasten onto the discussions of strategies, tactics, and coalitions."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Political Science Quarterly, winter, 2006, J. Morgan Kousser, review of Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States, p. 724.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2006, review of Democracy for All.

Socialism and Democracy, March, 2007, Gene Brown, review of Democracy for All, p. 176.

ONLINE

Immigrant Voting Project Web site,http://www.immigrantvoting.org/ (April 13, 2008), author profile.

Ron Hayduk Home Page,http://www.ronhayduk.com (April 12, 2008).