Back in December 2021, we reported that the New York City Council had passed a measure permitting noncitizens holding green cards to vote in local elections. That decision immediately went to the courts and, now, more than three years later, noncitizen voting has finally been shut down in NYC.
This morning, the New York Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court — ruled 6-1 that the law violated the state constitution, writing:
Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens. . . .
Article II, Section 1 of the state constituion declares:
Every citizen shall be entitled to vote at every election for all officers elected by the people and upon all questionssubmitted to the vote of the people provided that such citizen is eighteen years of age or over and shall have been a resident of this state, and of the county, city, or village for thirty days next preceding an election. [Emphasis added]
The court’s decision marks a major defeat for leftists on the Council, who boasted in 2021 of accomplishing a feat of “historic” proportions. A main supporter of the bill, Dominican-Republic-born Ydanis Rodríguez, then a Council member and current Commissioner of the NYC Department of Transportation, declared at the time:
It is no secret, we are making history today. 50 years down the line when our children look back at this moment they will see a diverse coalition of advocates who came together to write a new chapter in New York City’s history by giving immigrant New Yorkers the power of the ballot.
Consider that “new chapter” null and void.
For more, see the New York Post.