In a groundbreaking ruling, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department, has overturned a New York City law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in municipal elections.
The ruling issued Wednesday affects an estimated 800,000 legal residents who are not citizens and illegal alien “dreamers,” thwarting the city’s efforts to expand the electorate in local races.
Dreamers are illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, lived, and attended school here.
This decision upholds a lower court ruling issued by Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio in June 2022.
The ruling, which Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council had attempted to overturn, stands as a significant rebuke to the city’s legislative body and its executive.
The law, passed in December 2021 but faced with immediate legal challenges, aimed to create a class of “municipal voters” consisting of noncitizens who reside in New York City.
“The local law created a new class of voters called “municipal voters” who would be entitled to vote in municipal elections for the offices of mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president, and council member.
The law defines a “municipal voter” as “a person who is not a United States citizen on the date of the election on which he or she is voting,” and who meets the following criteria: (1) “is either a lawful permanent resident or authorized to work in the United States”; (2) “is a resident of New York [C]ity and will have been such a resident for 30 consecutive days or longer by the date of such election”; and (3) “meets all qualifications for registering or pre-registering to vote under the election law, except for possessing United States citizenship, and who has registered or pre-registered to vote with the board of elections in the city of New York under this chapter.”
The case, Vito J. Fossella et al. v Eric Adams etc. et al., centered on the interpretation of Article II, Section 1, and Article IX of the New York State Constitution, which references “citizens.”
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