New York City’s attempt to allow non-citizens to vote in municipal elections was recently terminated by the highest court in New York State. In a 6-1 decision, the high court stated that “the New York constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens.”
New York City’s 2022 ordinance was never put into effect. According to supporters, it would have applied to around 800,000 foreign nationals who were authorized to work in the US or had legal permanent status there. They would have been able to vote for local politicians like the mayor and municipal council, but not for the president, Congress, or state representatives.
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The measure was swiftly challenged by state Republican authorities, and state courts at all levels rejected it.
Republicans applauded Thursday’s decision by the Court of Appeals, the state’s top court.
In a statement, NYGOP Chair Ed Cox stated, “Efforts by radical Democrats on the New York City Council to permit non-citizen voting have been rightly rejected.” Michael Hawrylchak, the Republican lawyer, expressed his satisfaction that the court acknowledged the “fundamental limits” on voter eligibility outlined in the state constitution.
Non-citizen inhabitants of Washington, D.C. can vote in municipal elections, while a few towns in Maryland and Vermont allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. Parents who are not citizens are permitted to vote in school board elections in San Francisco.
Farther south in California, residents of Santa Ana rejected a non-citizen voting measure last year. Some other states specifically prohibit localities from enfranchising non-citizens.
According to the state constitution of New York, “every citizen shall have the right to vote” if they are residents of the state and at least eighteen years old. Voters in county and municipal elections must reside in the appropriate county, city, or village, the text also states.
New York City said that “every citizen” did not imply “citizens only,” and that the city had the autonomy to decide whether to provide more people with the right to vote in its own elections. Many individuals who have settled in the city and pay taxes there but have difficult pathways to citizenship now have an electoral voice, according to the law’s advocates.
Democrats were accused by the GOP of breaking the state constitution to further their own political agenda. The law was passed by the City Council, which is overwhelmingly Democratic.
Eric Adams, the Democratic mayor, did not sign it or veto it. Rather, he did not sign it into law, stating at the time that he thought “New Yorkers should have a say in their government.”
