Category: News

New York state’s highest court has struck down a New York City law allowing noncitizens to vote in city elections. On Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals—the equivalent of other states’ supreme courts—ruled in a six-to-one decision that NYC’s move to amend a local election law to allow noncitizens to cast ballots for municipal contests violated the state constitution.

“We also note that, during the 1894 Constitutional Convention, the delegates debated (and rejected) resolutions identifying 16 other states that allowed voting by certain non-U.S. citizens… the debate was animated by a common understanding that the New York Constitution restricted the franchise to U.S. citizens,” the ruling states, adding: “Article II, section 1 has been amended several times since 1894, but the citizenship requirement has persisted. There is no evidence that any of the amendments changed the understanding that a voter must be a citizen to vote in New York.”

“Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens. Accordingly, the order of the Appellate Division insofar as appealed from should be modified, without costs, in accordance with this opinion and, as so modified, affirmed,” the majority opinion concludes.

Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella brought the lawsuit with the backing of other Republican lawmakers and public officials. They successfully argued that the state constitution bars noncitizens from voting and that New York City has no legal avenue to abrogate that constitutional provision without the document being amended by state voters.

Noncitizen voting has become a serious issue in the United States, especially at the municipal level, where illegally cast votes can easily impact small electorates. The National Pulse has extensively covered the issue, noting at least one survey indicates that noncitizen voters could also be a significant source of voter fraud at the federal level.