With a 33-14 vote, the Democratic-controlled city council passed the measure known as “Our City, Our Vote.”
According to the legislation, non-citizens who lived in Nova York for at least 30 days and are legal permanent residents of the US — including green card holders, individuals with a work permit, and DACA holders (immigration term provided as a child) — will be allowed to vote in municipal elections for mayor, public defender, district president and city council.
Councilor Ydanis Rodriguez, the Dominican Republic’s main supporter of the legislation and immigrant, told reporters CNN that it is about defending the issue of “no taxation without representation”.
“But the New York State Constitution and the New York City Charter are a living document, which gives us the opportunity to always strive to make it better.
I think today we were able to make that important shift that recognizes the contributions of immigrants,” Rodriguez told CNN after the vote, adding that his own past as a green card holder from 1983 to 2000 inspired his push for the measure’s passage.
Before the vote, some members argued that there should be a postponement, citing legal concerns about whether the city could make such a change.
This motion, however, was defeated and the council moved forward with the measure. Other board members raised concerns about the impact the new bill would have on black voters.
“Where African-American voters fit in,” Democrat and majority leader Laurie Cumbo said ahead of the vote.
“This legislation, in particular, will change the power dynamics in New York City in an important way, and we don’t have the numbers or the information to know how this will affect the African-American communities that were most vulnerable in their existence in New York.
“The five countries that register the most immigrants in the city are the Dominican Republic, followed by China, Mexico, Jamaica e Guiana, according to the 2019 report on the immigrant population from the City Office for Immigrant Affairs.
New York City has nearly 800,000 non-citizens, according to Rodriguez’s office.
Proponents of the bill say it is about allowing everyone to participate in the democratic process.
“This is a transformative law that will really ensure that all New Yorkers — the non-citizen New Yorkers who live here, who are raising children here, who shop in our stores, who own small businesses — have the opportunity to be a part of of our democracy.”
“We think we’re all going to be better off when the people who invest in this city can participate in our democracy,” Anu Joshi, vice president of policy for the New York Coalition of Immigrants, told CNN.
The legislation is expected to take effect in January 2023.
Critics of the bill, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, say the legislation could potentially discourage legal permanent residents from becoming citizens.
“I understand that if people say, ‘hey, I’m somewhere on the path to citizenship, I’d like to be more involved.’ I respect this. I understand this impulse,” de Blasio told a news conference in late November.
“But I also have feelings about the value of citizenship and a desire to encourage people to become full citizens, and there are a lot of people who don’t pursue full citizenship, even if they can, and that’s a problem for me.”
Others argued that voting is a right that should only be extended when a person becomes a citizen.
“I fully support our immigrant community, but I also respect our laws and value my privilege to vote like a US citizen,” Bronx Councilor Ruben Diaz, Democrat, said in a statement last week.
The legislation has raised some legal concerns — from state Republicans — who argue that the bill undermines the credibility of local elections and interferes with the integrity of state elections.
THE Republican Party New York State’s pledged to take action against the legislation, including “any legal action necessary to prevent the bill from becoming law.”
The measure comes at a time when many Republican-led legislatures have acted to restrict voting access across the country.
Nineteen states have passed 33 new laws this year that make voting harder, according to an analysis by the liberal Brennan Center for Justice.
Also, in 2020, three states — Alabama, Colorado and Florida — approved electoral measures that ensure that voting is limited to citizens only.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) attributed the measure to a “power-hungry Democratic Party.”
“American citizens should decide the American elections – period,” RNC President Ronna McDaniel said in a statement after the vote.
“Allowing our elections to be decided by foreign nationals is unacceptable, and the RNC is examining our legal options as we continue our fight to protect the vote.”
The RNC filed a lawsuit in September against Winooski and Montpelier, Vermont, for allowing non-citizens to vote.
(Translated text. Read the original here.)
Reference: CNN Brasil
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