The New York City Council on Thursday granted noncitizens the right to vote in local elections beginning in 2023.
The bill allows noncitizens to vote in certain municipal elections including for mayor, according to city council member Ydanis Rodriguez, a sponsor of the legislation.
There are some requirements for those who wish to vote – including residency in the city for at least 30 days and the individuals must have a work permit in order to register.
The Hill reports that the measure “could affect approximately 1 million adult noncitizens living in New York City.”
The legislation makes New York City the largest municipality in the U.S. to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
This is madness. Non-citizens should not be allowed to vote in American elections. It’s that simple. https://t.co/vexGfMLLwj
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) December 9, 2021
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New York City Going Further Left
Most far-left Democrats are thrilled with the idea of adding nearly a million new voters to their rolls in local elections.
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“We have made history today. Nearly 1 Million non-citizen immigrant New Yorkers will be allowed to participate in our City’s election!” Rodriguez excitedly tweeted along with an image of himself speaking before the Council, hands raised high in victory.
#Breaking: The New York City Council becomes the largest city in the nation to enfranchise non-citizen immigrant New Yorkers.
We have made history today. Nearly 1 Million non-citizen immigrant New Yorkers will be allowed to participate in our City’s election! #Intro1867 pic.twitter.com/uxHVfbSH45
— Ydanis Rodriguez (@ydanis) December 9, 2021
Not everybody is enamored with the idea of allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.
Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R) has argued the measure “will profoundly transform elections in New York City as we know them,” blasting Democrats in an op-ed.
“These are the same out-of-touch activists who have devalued citizenship and actually discouraged naturalization into this country by making New York a sanctuary city, so all immigrants can remain here without fear of being deported even after committing heinous crimes, and by extending benefits to immigrants, regardless of legal status,” Borelli writes.
“It was always in their plans to ultimately give away voting privileges.”
Hear what I had to say on the floor of the City Council on the legality of non-citizen voting. Spoiler: it violates our state constitution, election law, and municipal home rule law… dont trust me, ask Mayor de Blasio, he agrees, or at least did. https://t.co/8xa2cb03T3
— Joe Borelli (@JoeBorelliNYC) December 9, 2021
RELATED: House Democrats Just Voted in Support of Allowing Illegal Immigrants to Vote
De Blasio Concerned
Remarkably, even the far-left mayor of the city has some reservations about letting noncitizens vote in New York City elections.
“I really want to make sure that there’s maximum incentive to finish the citizenship process,” Mayor Bill De Blasio said. “I think there’s some open questions here that still cause me to feel concerned about this.”
When you’ve lost De Blasio …
That said, the mayor has expressed that he would not veto the legislation. And Mayor-elect Eric Adams is a strong voice of support for the bill.
Voting is a sacred right of US citizens. One person, one vote belongs to US citizens, no one else! No way should noncitizens be allowed to vote, but in Bill de Blasio’s NYC the City Council just voted to allow just that. This is the entirely wrong path for our city and state.
— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) December 9, 2021
New York State Senate Republicans meanwhile, blasted the move as “a slap in the face to every law-abiding American citizen.”
In 2018, the San Francisco Department of Elections circulated voter registration forms for non-citizens to participate in a Board of Education election.
During a recount fight in a 2018 Florida election, lawyers representing then-gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and Senator Bill Nelson, both Democrats, objected to denying a vote cast by a non-citizen, though they did not offer any reason for doing so.
While liberals claim to oppose foreign interference in elections, College Park, Maryland just joined Chicago, San Francisco, and other Maryland cities in allowing noncitizens to vote! #teaparty pic.twitter.com/8mpEXMM7QC
— Tea Party Patriots (@TPPatriots) March 12, 2018
In 2017, the city of College Park, Maryland, debated the best manner in which to eliminate the citizenship requirement to vote, seeking to become one of numerous other cities and towns in Maryland that have done away with it.
The city council approved that measure not long thereafter.
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