(The Center Square) — A controversial New York City law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections is unconstitutional, according to a ruling by the state’s highest court on Thursday.
The 6-1 ruling by the New York Court of Appeals sided with Republicans who challenged the law, arguing that a clause in the state Constitution that “every citizen shall be entitled to vote” refers only to U.S. citizens.
“Americans have fought over the meaning of citizenship and the right to vote since the earliest days of our Republic,” Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote in the 23-page ruling for the majority. “Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens.”
The high court’s lone dissenter, Associate Judge Jenny Rivera, argued that the state’s home rule law allows cities to determine who gets to vote in local elections and that the state Constitution “does not prohibit localities from exercising their home rule authority to enfranchise noncitizens.” Still, she said, the law should be subject to a referendum.
“Local Law 11 would vastly expand the franchise in New York City, a locality that is home to approximately 3.1 million immigrants, of whom 27 percent (over 800,000) are lawful permanent residents or hold another form of lawful status,” Rivera wrote in the 32-page dissenting opinion. “It provides a means for this significant part of the city’s population to have a voice in their government.”
The proposal, approved by the Democratic-controlled New York City Council in 2021, called for allowing green card holders and others living in New York City with federal work authorization to vote in local elections for offices including mayor and City Council.
It was challenged in court by Republicans led by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella shortly after its approval, who argued that a clause in the state Constitution only allows U.S. citizens to vote in city elections.
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration defended the law and appealed a lower court’s ruling striking it down, and a subsequent ruling in February by the Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department, which upheld the lower court’s decision.
Supporters of the law, who argued it would make the city more inclusive and welcoming for legal migrants, claimed in legal filings that New York immigrants who are city residents are effectively citizens. But the appeals court rejected that argument as “disconnected” from the issue.
“There is no known procedure for someone who is not a citizen of the United States to be a citizen of New York, and, even were there, Local Law 11 does not purport to enfranchise those persons,” Wilson wrote.
One of the plaintiffs in the case, New York Congresswoman Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., praised Thursday’s ruling as a “win for common sense and democracy” in a post on social media.
Curtis Sliwa, a Republican candidate for mayor, hopes the ruling will allow the city to focus on voter turnout.
“With one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country, our city needs to do more to engage working people who feel shut out of the process,” said Sliwa. “Before expanding voting rights to noncitizens, we should focus on ensuring that more New Yorkers feel their voices matter. Too many hardworking people in this city have given up on politics because they believe the system doesn’t work for them.”
