Election Day 2024 voting at Riverside Church in Harlem on Nov. 5, 2024.
Picture by Dean Moses
A legislation permitting a whole bunch of 1000’s of noncitizens residing in New York Metropolis to vote in municipal elections was struck down on Thursday by the state’s highest court docket.
The 6-to-1 resolution by the New York State Court docket of Appeals discovered that the legislation ought to be voided as a result of it violates the state Structure. Within the court docket’s majority opinion, Chief Choose Rowan Wilson wrote that the state structure clearly states that solely US residents can vote in elections in New York state.
“Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens,” Wilson wrote in a 36-page resolution.
“The highest court in New York State has spoken,” stated Nicholas Paolucci, a metropolis Legislation Division spokesperson, in a press release. “We respect the court’s ruling.”
Whereas it struck down the legislation, the court docket sided with Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in ruling that it didn’t violate town’s Municipal House Rule Legislation. In impact, the court docket rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that modifications to native elections have to be made by poll referendums.
The Thursday resolution was the top of an extended street for the legislation.
The legislation initially handed the Metropolis Council in late 2021 after which lapsed into impact in early 2022 after not getting signed or vetoed by both former Mayor Invoice de Blasio and Mayor Adams. It gave voting rights to noncitizens, together with authorized everlasting residents and people with work authorization who’ve lived within the metropolis for at the very least 30 days, of whom there have been round 800,000 when the legislation handed.
The legislation solely allowed noncitizens to vote in native elections for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, and Metropolis Council. It didn’t cowl races for state or federal places of work.
It was geared toward giving noncitizens who pay taxes and contribute to well-being of their communities a say in native elections.
Nevertheless, the legislation was nearly instantly challenged by a gaggle of largely Republican elected officers together with Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (Staten Island/Brooklyn), and Metropolis Council Member Robert Holden (D-Queens).
A Richmond County Supreme Court docket choose sided with the group of lawmakers in 2022. The choice was upheld by a state Appeals court docket early final yr following an attraction by the Adams administration. It then went to the state Court docket of Appeals, following one other attraction by Metropolis Corridor.
Holden, in a press release, stated the ruling was “a major victory for election integrity and the rule of law.”
“The Constitution is clear: noncitizens do not have the right to vote, and this reckless scheme undermined the value of American citizenship,” he stated. “I was proud to be a plaintiff in this case, and today, the courts have affirmed what we always knew—only American citizens should decide our elections.”
However immigrant advocates who pushed for the legislation see the court docket’s resolution as a part of a development of diminishing voting rights throughout the nation.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, stated in a press release that the ruling “disenfranchises the communities that help keep New York City running.”
“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision, which undermines the very principles of inclusion that make our democracy strong,” Awawdeh stated. “Denying New Yorkers with legal permanent residency or work authorization the right to vote in local elections is a grave injustice, stripping them of the ability to influence the policies that govern their daily lives.”
