The New York City Council Thursday voted to grant certain noncitizens the right to vote in municipal elections, making it the largest city in the United States to extend the vote to lawful permanent residents and non-citizens authorized to work in the US.
The municipal legislation, Int. 1867 grants the vote to noncitizen “municipal voters,” defined as a New York City resident who is either a lawful permanent resident or who holds work authorization, as well as DACA holders. Municipal voters must have been a resident of New York City for at least 30 days prior to the election and must register to vote with the NYC Board of Elections. While they will continue to be ineligible to vote for federal and state elections, municipal voters will be able to participate in elections for mayor, comptroller, public advocate, city council member, and borough president, as well as local ballot initiatives.
The legislation was supported by numerous groups that advocated for the expansion of voting rights to noncitizen New Yorkers, noting that noncitizens paid billions of dollars in local taxes but had no electoral voice. A 2018 report by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs found that 3.1 million New Yorkers were immigrants and that immigrants owned 52% of New York City’s businesses and contributed $195 billion to the city’s GDP. Furthermore, the report found that 660,000 New Yorkers were lawful permanent residents, all of whom are now able to vote in local elections.
While the Immigration and Nationality Act restricts the right to vote in federal elections to US citizens, and nearly all state constitutions restrict the right to vote in state elections to citizens, many states do not prohibit municipalities from allowing nonresidents to vote in local elections. San Francisco extended the right to vote in school board elections to certain noncitizens in 2016, while Montpelier, VT, passed a bill in 2021 that allowed lawful permanent residents to vote in municipal elections.
New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson applauded the legislation’s passage on Twitter, calling it “historic.” Under Int. 1867, noncitizen municipal voters in New York City will be able to register to vote starting in December 2022 and begin voting in local elections starting in January 2023.
