Photo Courtesy of NY GOP
Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli speaks out against Int. No. 1867.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The City Council on Thursday approved a bill that will give certain non-United States citizens living in the five boroughs the right to vote in local elections.
The historic final tally: 33 members voted in favor of Int. No. 1867; 14 voted against it; two members abstained.
According to the council, a person will be entitled to vote under this bill if they (i) are either a lawful permanent resident or authorized to work in the United States, (ii) have been a resident of New York City for at least 30 consecutive days, and (iii) meet all the qualifications for registering to vote under the Election Law other than U.S. citizenship. Any person who satisfies these criteria will be eligible to register as a “municipal voter” with the NYC Board of Elections. Once registered, they will be entitled to vote in any primary, special, general, or run-off election for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, Borough President, or Council Member, and on any local ballot initiative. The bill does not authorize municipal voters to vote in any state or federal elections.
“In one of the most diverse cities in the world, we need to ensure that there is adequate representation for all New Yorkers. That starts by expanding the scope of who is allowed to vote in our local elections,” said Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan), the bill’s sponsor.
At each local election, municipal voters will vote at the same polling places as U.S. citizen voters, and will not be required to form a separate line. If there are state and federal races taking place on the same day, municipal voters will be given a separate ballot that only includes local races. Municipal voters will be eligible to enroll in a political party for purposes of voting in local primary elections.
The BOE will be required to develop a new registration form for municipal voters. Such forms will need to be made available wherever voter registration forms for U.S. citizens are made available, and will need to be translated into any languages that U.S. citizen voter registration forms are translated into under state and federal law (currently, such forms must be translated into Spanish, Bengali, Korean and Chinese). All federal, state, and local confidentiality policies that pertain to U.S. citizens will also apply to municipal voters, and the BOE will be prohibited from publishing any list of registered municipal voters separately or distinctly from the complete list of all voters entitled to vote in New York City.
The bill will create an advisory group to provide recommendations regarding the implementation of this new system of municipal voting. The committee will be chaired by the Public Advocate, and will include two members appointed by the mayor, and two members appointed by the Speaker. The advisory group will be required to meet at least twice per year and publish a report annually.
Under this bill, eligible non-citizens will be allowed to begin registering to vote as municipal voters on Dec. 9, 2022, and registered municipal voters will be eligible to begin voting in local elections on Jan. 9, 2023.
There has been plenty of vocal opposition to the bill.
“Voting is the right of citizens,” Councilwoman-elect Joann Ariola (R-Howard Beach) said.
“Giving someone whose only evidence of any stake in this city’s future has been to stay here for a whole month a say in electing our leaders evinces a reckless disregard for the very real long-term problems this city faces, including grappling with multibillion-dollar budget deficits, rising crime and disorder and economic uncertainty amid a global pandemic,” Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli wrote in the New York Post.
