Intensified by the recent influx of refugees and generally increasing levels of ethnic diversity, Swiss and European governments are struggling with the design of policies that catalyze the integration of immigrants and facilitate the social cohesion of host communities. Against this background, we want to evaluate the effectiveness of non-citizen voting rights guided by the following research question:

Does extending voting rights to non-citizens catalyze the political and social integration of immigrants?

Voting rights for non-citizens offering a means of inclusion in the democratic process are a potentially important determinant of immigrants’ integration. So far the pros and cons have primarily been discussed on theoretical and normative grounds. We want to better understand the empirical effects on various dimensions of integration.