A New York appeals court recently found the New York City law, which granted voting rights to non-citizens, unconstitutional. The statute, known as Int. 1867-2020, could have potentially allowed over 800,000 non-citizens to vote in the city’s local elections prior to the court’s ruling last Wednesday. This legislation, enacted last year, extended the right to vote in municipal elections to lawful permanent residents or those authorized to work in the U.S, albeit certain other requirements had to be met.
Among these preconditions, the individual needing to qualify as a lawful permanent resident or should be authorized to work in the U.S, having been a resident of New York City for 30 consecutive days or longer by the election day, as well as meeting all qualifications for registering or pre-registering to vote, barring the necessity of U.S citizenship, should have registered or pre-registered to vote with the board of elections in the city of New York.
The court predominantly based its ruling on Election Law §5-102(1), which clearly states that no person shall be qualified to register for and vote at any election unless they will be a U.S citizen. Thus, to vote in the state of New York, an individual must be a U.S citizen.
The court further appealed to Municipal Home Rule Law § 23, which mandates that local regulations be subjected to a “mandatory referendum”. According to this law, a local regulation should be subject to mandatory referendum if it changes the method of nominating, electing, or removing an elected officer, among other things. Given that the contested local law would permit non-citizen individuals to be eligible for election to city offices, the court held that the election process would be fundamentally reshaped, thereby violating the Municipal Home Rule Law.
Mike Lawler, the U.S House Representative from New York, expressed agreement with the court’s decision, highlighting it as a win for the constitution, the rule of law, and fair and free elections. Though New York City Mayor Eric Adams has not yet released a statement concerning the ruling, he has previously voiced his support for the now-unconstitutional law. The matter has now been transferred to the Supreme Court for further perusal.
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