A New York appeals court ruled that a New York City law granting non-citizens the power to vote was unconstitutional. It was estimated that the law would allow more than 800,000 non-citizens the ability to vote in New York City local elections, prior to the court’s Wednesday ruling.

The municipal legislation, Int. 1867-2020, was enacted in January of last year. The law allowed for individuals in New York City, who are lawful permanent residents or are authorized to work in the US, to vote in municipal elections. The non-citizens were still required to meet one of the three following requirements:

(1) “is either a lawful permanent resident or authorized to work in the United States”;

(2) “is a resident of New York [C]ity and will have been such a resident for 30 consecutive days or longer by the date of such election”; and

(3) “meets all qualifications for registering or pre-registering to vote under the election law, except for possessing United States citizenship, and who has registered or pre-registered to vote with the board of elections in the city of New York under this chapter.

The court points to Election Law §5-102(1) stating, “[n]o person shall be qualified to register for and vote at any election unless he is a citizen of the United States.” The court therefore held that in order to vote in the state of New York, an individual seeking to vote must be a citizen.

The court also argued that through the referendum process, local laws are subject to “mandatory referendum” under Municipal Home Rule Law § 23. This law states, “[e]xcept as otherwise provided by or under authority of a state statute, a local law shall be subject to mandatory referendum if it,” among other things, “changes the method of nominating, electing, or removing an elective officer.” Since the majority found that the rights and privileges of US citizen voters, with regard to municipal elections, include the right to be elected to and hold the offices of mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president and council member, it follows that the local law would permit non-citizens to be eligible to be elected to and hold those offices. This, the court claimed, would reshape the process of municipal elections, violating the Municipal Home Rule Law.

US House Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) agreed with the court’s decision:

Today’s decision by the Appellate Division, Second Department is a win for the constitution, the rule of law and free and fair elections. The right to vote should only be afforded to United States citizens and the attempt by NYC to circumvent that and allow noncitizen voting was wrong.

The Mayor of New York City Eric Adams has yet to release a statement on the judgment, but previously made his support for this law known. The appeals court has remitted the matter to the New York Supreme Court, Richmond County.