New York City Council Approves Measure to Allow Noncitizens to Vote in Municipal Elections

NEW YORK — New York City Council passed legislation on Thursday to permit hundreds of thousands of legal noncitizens to vote in the city’s municipal elections.

Legal permanent voting-age New York residents account for roughly 900,000 of the city’s 8.4 million residents and have long been barred from voting in local elections. The council approved the measure by a margin of 33 in favor and 14 opposed, successfully moving the bill to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s desk for signing.

The bill expands the voting rights of non-citizen residents like green card holders or DACA recipients who have resided in New York for at least 30 consecutive days. De Blasio previously expressed doubts over the legality of the measure but said he would not veto the legislation despite his lack of support for the move prior to its passage.

“In one of the most diverse cities in the world, we need to ensure that there is adequate representation for all New Yorkers,” Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, sponsor of the legislation, said during the meeting on Thursday. “That starts by expanding the scope of who is allowed to vote in our local elections.

“Immigrants in New York City own over half of the local businesses and contribute over $190 billion dollars to the citywide GDP. During the height of the pandemic, it was our immigrant New Yorkers who kept New York City running. Over half of our front-line essential workers are immigrants and approximately one in five are non-citizens New Yorkers. They have all earned the right to participate in our city elections.”

Although the legislation doesn’t permit the residents to vote in state or federal elections, it will make New York the largest city in the country to expand voting rights to noncitizens. In 2016, voters in San Francisco approved a charter amendment permitting legal guardians of children residing in the San Francisco Unified School District to vote for members of the Board of Education.

Municipalities in Maryland and Vermont also adopted similar measures that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections in March 2020 and June 2021, respectively. Republican Party officials have said publicly they plan to review legal options to challenge the measure in court, and New York City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli said during a press conference on the steps of City Hall on Dec. 3 that green card and work visa holders should go through the process of becoming U.S. citizens if they want to vote in local elections.

“This is perhaps the worst idea out of New York City Democrats ever, and that’s really saying something,” New York Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy said prior to the bill’s passage. “This radical legislation is unconstitutional, un-American and downright dangerous. “This not only will undermine the credibility of local city elections but will undoubtedly interfere with the integrity of state and national elections across New York State. Democrats do not get to create their own brand of citizenship to manipulate elections. This is unconditionally unconstitutional and we will use every legal method to make sure it’s stopped.”

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs published a report in April that estimated the city’s noncitizen population comprises about 10% of the city’s overall population. In comparison, the report estimated that 63% of the city’s population were U.S.-born citizens and 21% were naturalized citizens.

Around 240,000 or 14% of all children in the city live in mixed-status families, according to the MOIA report. Nationally, about one in six U.S. workers is an immigrant and more than 44.9 million immigrants resided in the country as of 2019.

“Today, we finally gave immigrant New Yorkers who raise their kids here, build our economy, and contribute to this vibrant city every single day a voice in their local democracy,” Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a written statement. “This groundbreaking legislation gives nearly 1 million New Yorkers a voice in the issues we all care about; the quality of our schools, the safety of our streets, and countless other large and small ways the city government impacts our lives. Now, it’s time for Mayor de Blasio to immediately sign [the bill] into law.”

Awawdeh continued, “This legislation will usher in the largest enfranchisement of New Yorkers in more than a century and marks a bold step forward in the fight for protecting and expanding democracy. NYC can once again serve as a model for cities and counties across the country.” 

Reece can be reached at [email protected].