Current Events > New York Moves to Allow 800,000 Noncitizens to Vote in Local Elections

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/nyregion/noncitizen-voting-rights-nyc.html

New York City lawmakers are poised to allow more than 800,000 New Yorkers who are green card holders or have the legal right to work in the United States to vote in municipal elections and for local ballot initiatives. The bill, known as Our City, Our Vote, would make New York City the largest municipality in the country to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. The legislation, expected to be approved by the City Council on Dec. 9 by a veto-proof margin, comes as the country is dealing with a swath of new laws to impose voter restrictions, as well as the economic and demographic effects of a decline in immigration. Voters in Alabama, Colorado and Florida passed ballot measures last year specifying that only U.S. citizens could vote. The states joined Arizona and North Dakota in specifying that noncitizens could not vote in state and local elections. Its important for the Democratic Party to look at New York City and see that when voting rights are being attacked, we are expanding voter participation, said Ydanis Rodriguez, a councilman who sponsored the bill and represents Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan. Of the estimated 808,000 adult New Yorkers who are lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, or have work authorization, about 130,000 are from the Dominican Republic; those from China represent another 117,500 people, according to the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs. Those eligible must be residents of New York City for 30 days and otherwise eligible to vote under state law.

Eric Adams, the mayor-elect, has said he supports the legislation and believes that green card holders should have the right to participate in local elections. New Yorks passage of voting rights for noncitizens is sure to set off a wave of reaction to both expand and restrict voting rights, Professor Douglas said. In the so-called blue states, we are moving toward expansion and that includes expansion of noncitizen voting, the professor said. In the so-called red places, you are moving toward more constrictions on the right to vote, which includes noncitizens. The whole world of voting rights has become one that is more polarized, even more than normal. Corey Johnson, the speaker of the City Council, said giving immigrants a voice in our local elections will add New York City to a resounding national movement. Woojung Park, 22, a DACA recipient, lives in Queens and is a student at Hunter College and an organizer at MinKwon Center for Community Action, a community organization in Flushing, Queens. Her parents, who brought her to the United States as an infant from South Korea, now run a nail salon in the Bronx. The Asian American community in Flushing is facing a housing crisis, she said, with many people living in illegal or unsuitable living conditions, some of them in basements that flooded after Hurricane Ida. Flushings residents are also contending with the lasting effects of a wave of xenophobia and hate crimes targeting Asian Americans during the pandemic. This would dramatically alter that and allow us to start to be politically active, Ms. Park said. Being able to support Asian Americans candidates would definitely change the political atmosphere in Flushing.



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Meanwhile red states gerrymander

They better hope not most of them are from Latin America. I'd love to see them vote for a leftist. Latin American leftists hate the US, the ones in the US hate left-wing politics.

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makes sense to me, if someone is legally able to work and thus pay taxes, theyre entitled to representation as well

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didn't a bunch of immigrants once fight a war over taxation without representation?

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lol new york

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Lebronwon posted...

who are green card holders or have the legal right to work

I see no problem, then.

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Junior_AIN posted...

They better hope not most of them are from Latin America. I'd love to see them vote for a leftist. Latin American leftists hate the US, the ones in the US hate left-wing politics.

You seem butthurt

No taxation without representation

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God bless

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_HayleyWilliams posted...

No taxation without representation

Damn straight.
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monkmith posted...

didn't a bunch of immigrants once fight a war over taxation without representation?

Yeah but people arent supposed to know that. They're all pieces of crap remember/s
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_HayleyWilliams posted...

No taxation without representation

That slogan sounds a bit hostile.
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Junior_AIN posted...

They better hope not most of them are from Latin America. I'd love to see them vote for a leftist. Latin American leftists hate the US, the ones in the US hate left-wing politics.

As a Latin American leftist: Your generalization is far too broad, and increasingly incorrect with time.

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Rathinor posted...

You seem butthurt

Dude's another run-of-the-mill right-wing account that suddenly came out of nowhere.

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OpWarpSpeed posted...

That slogan sounds a bit hostile.

So does the Doom soundtrack

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Good, now the Dems can have a more stable control over the city since immigrants tend to vote for them, gerrymandering isnt needed, fuck the gop

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LOCAL ELECTIONS.
Not president. Not Congress. Not senate.
You Trumpetts probably didn't catch that part and got all mad.

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Hmm whos getting mad about this? Must have me blocked

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Imit8m3 posted...

LOCAL ELECTIONS.
Not president. Not Congress. Not senate.
You Trumpetts probably didn't catch that part and got all mad.

watch them try to take it to the supreme court anyway.

but on the plus side, you're going to see about a million campaign commercials talking about this and exploding it way out of proportion, so look forward to it.

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Imit8m3 posted...

LOCAL ELECTIONS.
Not president. Not Congress. Not senate.
You Trumpetts probably didn't catch that part and got all mad.

Trumpers are accused of a lot of things but being intelligent sure isn't one of them

Rathinor posted...

Imit8m3 posted...

LOCAL ELECTIONS.
Not president. Not Congress. Not senate.
You Trumpetts probably didn't catch that part and got all mad.

Trumpers are accused of a lot of things but being intelligent sure isn't one of them

Trump has plenty of smart supporters. I still remember one of his 2019 rallies near me. He told us that Kentucky was "too smart". That was a proud moment for me.
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OpWarpSpeed posted...

Kentucky was "too smart"

For him, sure

Kentucky sure isn't too smart for anyone with an IQ over 90

_HayleyWilliams posted...

No taxation without representation

Factual and based

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_HayleyWilliams posted...

No taxation without representation

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