Hundreds of thousands of New York City immigrants could get the right to vote in local elections under a proposal before lawmakers.
A City Council hearing is scheduled for Thursday on a plan to allow people who are in the country legally, but aren’t citizens, to vote. Advocates estimate that could be more than 800,000 people.
Many U.S. states once let noncitizens vote, though policies changed by the 1930s. Some Maryland cities now allow it, and the idea has been floated in New York’s City Council for years.
Supporters say immigrants who pay taxes deserve to decide who spends them. Opponents say voting should be reserved for citizens.
New York state election law prohibits immigrants from voting, but supporters say the city has the right to set its own policies for local elections.
“When all contributing members of our society can participate, democracy is better served and everyone benefits,” said the bill’s sponsor, Councilman Daniel Dromm.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is opposed to the proposal. He “believes voting is the most important right we are granted as citizens, and you should have to go through the process of becoming a citizen and declaring allegiance to this country before being given that right,” Bloomberg spokeswoman Evelyn Erskine said in a statement, also noting that the proposal contravenes state law.
Dromm says the proposal has enough support to override a veto, should it get to that point.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who exercises considerable control over what measures come to a vote, hasn’t taken a position on the proposal. She said Wednesday she was looking forward to finding out more about it at the hearing.
City Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens) questioned the bill’s time frame.
“I don’t believe six months to a year is anywhere near long enough for somebody to be in this country and be given the right to vote. Somebody in this country that short of time has no stake in the future of the city or in issues like reducing the deficit. I would be willing to consider a much longer time period.”
The mayor’s office said it had “serious concerns” about the bill’s legality.
“Although the administration supports the goals of increasing voter participation and further including non-citizen new Yorkers within the fabric of civic life, we also believe that non-citizens should be encouraged to seek U.S. citizenship in order to participate in the full range of privileges that come with it, including voting rights,” William Heinzen, the mayor’s deputy counsel said in a letter to the Council.
He said the state Constitution doesn’t permit non-citizen voting. Moreover, he said, even if that hurdle was circumvented the Council couldn’t act on its own and would require a voter referendum to enact such a drastic change.
Ron Hayduk, a professor of Queens College and author of a book on immigrant voting, said the administration was wrong.
He pointed out that the state Legislature had previously allowed legal immigrants to vote for school board members.
“If it was unconstitutional, how did that go on for 34 years?” he asked.
Advocates argued that immigrants can wait eight to 10 years to become citizens, a period when they’re paying taxes and can become members of the armed forces.
Officials estimate that between 850,000 and 1.3 million additional voters would be added to the rolls if the bill became law.
One Council member who is one of the 34 sponsors said privately that a lawsuit was inevitable if the bill was passed.
“This is going to be decided in the courts,” the Council member said.