City Council legislation that would expand voting rights in municipal elections to more than 900,000 non-citizens could face a legal hurdle, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.
During his weekly appearance on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer program, the mayor said he had “mixed feelings” about the proposal, although he anticipates that state laws will eventually prevent the legislation introduced by councilman Ydanis Rodríguez (D-Manhattan ).
“Our Legal Department is very clear on this. It is not legal for this to be decided at the city level. I really believe this should be decided at the state level, in accordance with state law, ”he said.
The city’s Legal Department did not clarify what part of the state law would prevent the legislation from taking effect.
Through changes to city statutes, the legislation would grant the vote to lawful permanent residents and authorized workers in the state for at least 30 days before an election. A charter change, through a city-wide referendum, brought ranking voting to city elections.
Non-citizens could only vote in municipal elections, not state or federal.
Across the country, non-citizens have had different voting rights throughout history. In New York City, non-citizen parents had the right to vote in school board elections until 2002, when the school boards were dissolved.
The mayor said on Friday that he had “mixed feelings” about the idea of non-citizens voting, because he believes the ultimate goal should be to encourage people to become full citizens, “which is what we need to achieve more and more. “.
Rodríguez has been the main sponsor of the legislation since the City Council introduced it in January 2020.
The project was forgotten for most of the pandemic, but will now be discussed at a committee hearing next week.
“Our City Our Vote,” a campaign that encourages non-citizen suffrage, estimates that Rodriguez’s legislation would add about 900,000 new voters to New York City’s rolls.
The New York City Board of Elections would be responsible for their registration and would need to produce different ballots for non-citizen voters.
Responding to Republican opposition, Rodríguez said immigrants who pay into New York City’s coffers should also have a voice on their local representation, and expressed confidence that the bill will pass.
“It’s about living up to the words of no tax without representation. Immigrants bring billions to this country, yet during the height of the pandemic, they received crumbs, “he said. “People who pay their fair share of taxes deserve to elect their local representatives at the city level.”
Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island / South Brooklyn), who is the daughter of immigrants, has voiced her opposition to the legislation.
“There is nothing more important than preserving the integrity of our electoral system,” he said in a press release. “The government should work to build more confidence in our elections, not less.”
– .
