Noncitizens Have Voting Rights Too

This December, the New York City council will consider a bill to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. The “Our City, Our Vote” campaign supports legislation that allows legal permanent residents and those with work authorization to participate in municipal elections. Sponsored by Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, this campaign was created after new restrictive voting laws were created in various states. 

There are 800,000 noncitizens in New York who should have the right to vote in the local elections. New Yorkers, regardless of citizenship status, want their voices to be heard. They should have a say in the place they live and work. According to The New York Times, “Supporters maintain that immigrants who reside in the city legally, pay taxes, send their children to public schools and rely on city services should have some say in who becomes mayor or represents them on the City Council.”

In the Constitution, no law prohibits noncitizens from voting in local elections. According to BallotPedia.org, “In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed a law prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections, such as U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and presidential elections. Federal law did not address state or local elections.” Nothing is stopping the noncitizens in New York to have an influence on who represents them.

Noncitizens, however, aren’t eligible to vote in federal elections. Some legislators, mostly Republicans, like Vermont State Rep. Arthur Peterson (R), disagree with allowing noncitizens to vote. “If you’re not 18 or you’re not a citizen of the United States, I don’t see how you could be given the right to vote,” Peterson said. “We have to have some rules, and the [state] constitution is our rule.”

This is narrow-minded. Allowing noncitizens to vote is the right decision to make for the advancement of the United States.

 “From the founding of the country until 1926, 40 states at various points allowed noncitizens to vote in local, state and federal elections,” said Ron Hayduk, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University. 

“Expanding the franchise in this way would give American democracy new life, restore immigrants’ trust in government and send a powerful message of inclusion to the rest of the world,” said journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian . 

Noncitizens pay taxes, but are not allowed to decide who represents them. With the right to vote in New York noncitizens will increase diversity amongst voters and will help change the trajectory of future political leaders and the future of the United States.