Non Citizens Can Vote Now, and Foreigners Now Decide Who Runs Our Government
SOURCE: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2021/12/09/new-york-becomes-largest-city-to-grant-vote-to-noncitizens-1399231
NEW YORK — Nearly a million noncitizens in New York City will be able to vote in municipal elections under legislation that passed the City Council on Thursday.
New York will become the largest city in the country to approve such a measure if the bill becomes law. The measure now goes to outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has expressed reservations but said he will not veto it. The bill becomes law if he does not act in the next 30 days.
The bill passed by a 33-14 vote, with two members abstaining. It would affect about 900,000 legal immigrants, according to the advocacy group Our City, Our Vote.
“Today, I’m finally being seen, I’m finally being heard as part of the political process,” Melissa John, a public school teacher and a green card holder, said at a rally ahead of the Council meeting.
Those eligible to vote under the new measure could register with the Board of Elections on Dec. 9, 2022, a Council spokesperson said.
The bill does not apply to state or federal elections.
City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez of Manhattan, who sponsored the bill, called it “a big gift" to "hard-working individuals."
And Francisco Moya of Queens, who is running to become the Council’s next speaker, recalled relatives sitting on the sidelines when his Ecuadorian family went to their polling sites. “My mother will finally have a voice, an opportunity to vote for her son in an election because of you and the work that you did today,” Moya said.
The measure passed after some heated debate and was opposed by all four Republicans in the 51-member body and 10 Democrats.
Council Member Laurie Cumbo of Brooklyn was among the Democrats who opposed the bill. “This particular legislation is going to shift the power dynamics in New York City in a major way,” Cumbo said. “We do not have the numbers or the information to know how that is going to impact African-American communities who have been the most vulnerable in our existence in our city.”
Council Member Kalman Yeger of Brooklyn, another Democrat who opposed the bill, pushed back against charges that the bill's opponents are racist.
“Don’t come here and tell us that we’re racist because we don’t agree with you," he said. “How about I just have a policy difference? How about I read the Constitution, I went to law school just like the lawyers on this Council?”
New York City is now the 15th municipality in the United States to enact such a measure.
According to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs’ 2020 annual report, immigrants represented half of the one million essential workers who kept the city afloat during the early months of the pandemic.
Rodriguez tweeted on Thursday: “This is about giving respect and dignity to those who during the pandemic did not have the luxury of working from home or leaving to the Hamptons.”
De Blasio, who is contemplating a run for governor when his term ends in three weeks, said he has “mixed feelings” about the bill.
“I think there are still some outstanding legal questions about the city's authority versus the state’s in this matter,” he said. “But I respect the City Council.”
Mayor-elect Eric Adams has expressed support for the bill, but The New York Times reported last month that he questioned whether the Council has the power to pass such a measure.
Some Queens lawmakers have said the bill is illegal, and Staten Island Borough President-elect Vito Fossella, a Republican, said he plans to file a lawsuit against the bill once it passed.
“I think this is a historic day, and we see lawsuits all the time on bills that happen here almost every single month,” Council Speaker Corey Johnson replied.
