The enfranchisement of foreigners is likely one of the most controversial frontiers of institutional change in developed democracies, which are experiencing an increasing number of non-citizen residents. We study the conditions under which citizens are willing to share power. To this end, we exploit the unique setting of the Swiss canton of Grisons, where municipalities are free to decide on the introduction of non-citizen voting rights at the local level (a so called opting-in regime). Consistent with the power dilution hypothesis, we find that enfranchisement is less likely the larger the share of resident foreigners. Moreover, municipalities with a large language/cultural minority are less likely to formally involve foreigners. In contrast, municipality mergers seem to act as an institutional catalyst, promoting democratic reforms. A supplementary panel analysis on electoral support for an opting-in regime in the canton of Zurich also backs the power dilution hypothesis, showing that a larger share of foreigners reduces support for a regime change.

中文翻译：

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地方层面的权力分享：选择非公民投票权的证据

在非公民居民越来越多的发达民主国家，外国人的选举权可能是最有争议的制度变革前沿之一。我们研究公民愿意分享权力的条件。为此，我们利用瑞士格劳宾登州的独特环境，在那里市政当局可以自由决定在地方层面引入非公民投票权（所谓的选择加入制度）。与权力稀释假说一致，我们发现居民外国人所占比例越大，获得选举权的可能性就越小。此外，拥有大量语言/文化少数民族的城市不太可能正式让外国人参与进来。相比之下，市政合并似乎起到了制度催化剂的作用，促进了民主改革。