On December 9, 2021, the New York City Council will decide on a bill to allow non-citizens to vote in municipal elections. The measure is almost assured of passage as 34 of 51 council members support it. In addition, the incoming mayor of New York, Democrat Eric Adams, spoke in support of the bill at a prior hearing on the issue in September.
Under the proposed bill, green card holders and others with work permits would be allowed to vote in city elections. If passed, the measure would allow just over 800,000 new people to vote in municipal elections.
The sponsor of the bill, Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Washington Heights)–a naturalized citizen of the United States from the Dominican Republic–is a radical Democrat who strongly supports, among other things, giving additional rights to illegal immigrants. In September 2017 he was even arrested at a protest in New York City over President Trump’s move to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA was initiated by President Obama in violation of U.S. immigration law). Under the program, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants would be allowed to stay in the country (their deportation would be “deferred”) if they met certain requirements. Rodriguez tweeted at the time: “Just been arrested for fighting for our undocumented brothers and sisters near Foley Sq. We stand united behind them and their quest for justice.”
Rodriguez was belligerent toward anyone who questioned his bill; indeed, he suggested that people who disagree with it should leave New York City. As he stated, “If people have a problem with this, then they should move to another town or another country that has not been built by immigrants.”
Significantly, the bill appears to violate the New York State Constitution, which refers specifically to “citizens” in regard to who can vote in the state. Section 1 of Article II, Qualification of Voters, of the constitution provides:
“Every citizen shall be entitled to vote at every election for all officers elected by the people and upon all questions submitted 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.”
This is the main reason why outgoing Mayor Bill DeBlasio, one of the most left-wing Democrats in the country, has threatened to veto the bill if passed. As reported by the New York Post, DeBlasio stated: “We’ve done everything that we could possibly get our hands on to help immigrant New Yorkers—including undocumented folks—but… I don’t believe it is legal…Our Law Department is very clear on this.”
But legality will not stop radicals like Rodriguez and his henchmen on the New York City Council. All that matters to them is whether a measure will further the left-wing revolution and the Democratic Party, legality be damned. (That most immigrants who become naturalized U.S. citizens tend overwhelmingly to register as Democrats–by a margin of 2.5 to 1–and that immigrant non-citizens support the Democratic Party by an even larger margin–more than 3.5 to 1–cannot have been lost on Rodriguez.) The fact that this bill will dilute the votes of United State citizens holds no weight for them. If you are in America, no matter your citizenship status, no matter your attachment to America and her culture, history, and people, you should be given the vote; especially if you are more likely to vote Democratic. Period.
And people wonder why New York is a dying city; rotten to the core with radicals like Rodriquez.