City Council overwhelmingly approved legislation granting the right to more than 800,000 legal residents

I.S. Saluja

NEW YORK CITY (TIP): New York City became the largest city in the country to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections after the City Council on Thursday, December 9 overwhelmingly approved legislation granting the right to more than 800,000 legal residents.The legislation passed by a vote of 33 to 14 with two abstentions.

The legislation was approved over the objections of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who questioned whether the City Council has the power to grant voting rights to noncitizens. Legal experts expect that the bill could face a legal challenge, says New York Times. Under this legislation, any New Yorker who is a lawful permanent resident or authorized to work in the United States, who has been a resident of New York City for at least 30 consecutive days, and who meets all the qualifications for registering to vote under the Election Law other than U.S. citizenship, would be eligible to register to vote as a “municipal voter.” Registered municipal voters would be entitled to vote in any primary, special, general, or run-off election for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, Borough President, or Council Member, as well as on any local ballot initiative. The Board of Elections would implement this new system, which would include developing a new registration form specifically for municipal voters and giving them the opportunity to enroll in a political party so they can vote in local primary elections. Under this bill, eligible non-citizens would be able to start registering to vote on December 9, 2022, and once registered, could begin voting in local elections as of January 9, 2023. The bill would also create an advisory group to provide recommendations regarding the implementation of this new municipal voting system. Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, the bill’s primary sponsor, said the law will give more people who live in New York City and pay taxes a say in how the city is run.

“People who are looking to get elected to office will now have to spend the same amount of time in the communities affected by this legislation as they do in upper-class neighborhoods,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

Americans for Citizen Voting, an organization that was founded in 2019 to oppose efforts to allow noncitizens to vote, sent a letter to the New York City Council this week urging council members to reject the bill.

“We felt we needed to get involved because this is a growing movement across the country,” said the organization’s president, Christopher Arps. “We are not against immigrants — we believe immigrants have built this country. We just feel people should become citizens before they’re allowed to vote.”

Mr. de Blasio has said he would not veto the bill. The bill automatically becomes law if it is not signed in 30 days.

The mayor contended that noncitizen voting is a right that the state would have to grant, a position that many experts disagree with. Towns in Vermont and Maryland already allow noncitizens to vote in municipal elections. Noncitizens in San Francisco can vote in school board elections and several municipalities in Illinois, Maine and Massachusetts are also considering allowing noncitizen voting. In New York, the mayor-elect, Eric Adams, has said he supports the rights of green card holders to vote in local elections and has urged passage of the legislation. But he, too, has questioned whether the City Council has the ability to grant voting rights to noncitizens. A spokesman for Mr. Adams said he would review the legislation when he takes office. Experts say that the New York State Constitution grants voting rights to citizens but does not explicitly prevent noncitizen voting. Noncitizens were allowed to vote in New York City school board elections until the boards were abolished in the early 2000s.

According to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, of the estimated 808,000 adult New Yorkers who are lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, or have work authorization, 130,000 are from the Dominican Republic and 117,500 are from China. Under the legislation, the New York City Board of Elections, which has faced scrutiny about its handling of elections, would issue a separate voter registration form and provide ballots for noncitizens that only include municipal offices.

(With inputs from New York Times)