Matt Bush, FISM News
Unless a judge halts its implementation, New York City has become the first major U.S. city to give non-citizens municipal voting rights.
The bill, known as “Our City, Our Vote” allows legal permanent residents, those with work authorization, and “Dreamers” to participate in municipal elections. While non-citizens would not be allowed to vote in state or federal elections, this legislation would allow “non-citizens who have been lawful permanent residents of the city for at least 30 days, as well as those authorized to work in the US, including Dreamers, to help select the mayor, council members, borough presidents, comptroller and public advocate.”
According to a previous FISM article, this law paves the way for over 800,000 non-citizens to participate in local elections in a city where the population of actual American citizens is about 7 million. This means that if percentages hold around 10% of the voters in New York City municipal elections will not be U.S. citizens.
According to Newsweek, “New York’s city council approved the law in December. The mayor had 30 days after the council passed the bill to veto it.” While new Mayor Eric Adams had expressed concerns about the bill, and especially about the short 30-day rule, he neither signed nor vetoed “Our City, Our Vote.”
While it was not exactly a ringing endorsement from the city’s leader, Adams did say, “I’m a big believer in conversation, we have to start talking to each other and not at each other. And after hearing [colleagues’] rationale and their theories behind it, I thought it was more important to not veto the bill.”
Republicans and other opponents of the bill have vowed to challenge the law calling it an attack on election integrity and saying that the law will discourage people who live in America from pursuing American citizenship.
A similar law was passed in Vermont in early 2021 and the Republican National Committee sued the two cities for allowing non-citizens to vote. While the case is still pending, it provides an example of how opponents of this new “voting trend” are fighting to ensure that American elections are settled by American citizens.
Democratic Councilor Tiffany Caban wrote, “At a time when voting rights across the country are under attack by Republicans using racist, xenophobic fearing mongering, NYC is about to lead the way in ushering in the most inclusive, expansive democracy of any major city.” Bringing race and “inclusion” into a discussion of legality and the rights of citizens regardless of race is a hallmark of the Democratic Party, but in this case it does not apply.
Even former Democratic Mayor Bill De Blasio questioned the legality of the legislation stating on The Brian Lehrer Show, “Our Law Department is very clear on this. It’s (not) legal for this to be decided at the city level. I really believe this has to be decided at the state level, according to state law.