NYC: VOTING RIGHTS FOR NON-CITIZENS
Alliance Backs Voting Rights for Noncitizens
By SEWELL CHAN New York Times
New York City should allow legal immigrants who are not citizens to vote in local elections, according to an alliance of more than 60 organizations that announced a renewed effort yesterday to secure that right.
The alliance, the New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights, called on the City Council and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to support a bill, introduced by Councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn, that would allow legal immigrants who have been in the country for more than six months to vote in elections for mayor, comptroller and public advocate, as well as for the five borough presidents and 51 council members.
The effort started in 2004, after lawyers for the Council reviewed state election law and determined that the city could alter its voting statutes without action by the State Legislature, where noncitizen voting measures were introduced without success three times in the 1990s. Nothing in the State Constitution of 1938 forbids voting by noncitizens.
The local bill has the support of at least 14 council members, but has had trouble attracting broader support. Mr. Bloomberg, a vocal supporter of liberal immigration policies, said in April 2004, “The essence of citizenship is the right to vote, and you should go about becoming a citizen before you get the right to vote.”
By SEWELL CHAN New York Times
New York City should allow legal immigrants who are not citizens to vote in local elections, according to an alliance of more than 60 organizations that announced a renewed effort yesterday to secure that right.
The alliance, the New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights, called on the City Council and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to support a bill, introduced by Councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn, that would allow legal immigrants who have been in the country for more than six months to vote in elections for mayor, comptroller and public advocate, as well as for the five borough presidents and 51 council members.
The effort started in 2004, after lawyers for the Council reviewed state election law and determined that the city could alter its voting statutes without action by the State Legislature, where noncitizen voting measures were introduced without success three times in the 1990s. Nothing in the State Constitution of 1938 forbids voting by noncitizens.
The local bill has the support of at least 14 council members, but has had trouble attracting broader support. Mr. Bloomberg, a vocal supporter of liberal immigration policies, said in April 2004, “The essence of citizenship is the right to vote, and you should go about becoming a citizen before you get the right to vote.”
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posted by jillosophy at 2/23/2007 04:10:00 PM
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