New York City’s attempt to allow noncitizens to cast ballots in local elections violates the state constitution, the state’s top court ruled Thursday.
The decision rests on state law and isn’t directly applicable to other fights over noncitizen voting, but it does mark a major blow to what had been a growing movement to expand the franchise.
“Article II provides for election by — and only by — citizens,” Chief Justice Rowan Wilson said delivering the 6-1 ruling.
The law had previously been blocked by a lower court from taking effect.
The city had figured as many as 800,000 people without citizenship — including some illegal immigrants — would be eligible to cast ballots.
The state constitution says citizens are voters. New York City had argued that was a floor, not a ceiling, for voters.
Immigrant rights groups also contended that citizens could refer to citizens of the state, as different from citizens of the U.S., and that the restriction applied to statewide matters but not local contests.
Chief Justice Wilson said the way the state constitution is written leaves no wiggle room.
“For the above reasons, we cannot read Article II as providing a floor, allowing municipalities to enfranchise whomever they please. Instead, it precisely defines who may vote, restricting the franchise to citizens,” he wrote.
Dissenting from the decision, Justice Jenny Rivera said the city’s right to self-governance should prevail.
“Control over how a local official is elected and a local referendum is approved is a core concern of localities. Usually, local officers can exercise that control on their own, but sometimes, the people of a locality must make the choice themselves. This is one of those times,” she wrote.
New York would have been the largest jurisdiction in the country to allow noncitizen voting.
Now that distinction still belongs to the District of Columbia, which allows all residents, including illegal immigrants, to cast ballots in all local election matters if they have been in the city for at least 30 days.
In jurisdictions where it is allowed, turnout among the newly eligible has generally been weak.
New York’s law would have allowed noncitizens who have lawful permanent presence in the U.S., or who have been approved for work permits, to cast ballots in elections on city matters. That would include illegal immigrants here under temporary protections such as the DACA program, Temporary Protected Status or even applications for victim’s visas or asylum.
The New York Immigration Coalition called the ruling a “grave injustice.”
“Today’s decision by the New York Court of Appeals to strike down Local Law 11 is a devastating setback for voting rights, and disenfranchises the communities that help keep New York City running,” said Murad Awawdeh, the coalition’s president.
Noncitizens are barred by federal law from participating in federal elections and no state allows it statewide. Democrat-heavy municipalities, however, are increasingly adopting the policy, arguing noncitizens pay taxes, have children in schools and deserve a say in those matters.
When the city debated the bill, it devolved into questions of racial voting power.
“This particular legislation is going to shift the power dynamics in New York City in a major way, and we do not have the numbers or the information to know how that is going to impact African-American communities,” Council Member Laurie Cumbo warned at the time.
She complained, in particular, that many Latino voters backed President Trump in elections, while Black voters did not.
