The fight for noncitizen voting rights continues

Immigrants rights groups are appealing a Staten Island judge's ruling [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] [Ad: We connect health and social care. click here to find out more at unite us dot org]( Advertisement The fight continues to secure voting rights for noncitizens in NYC [By Arun Venugopal]( [people in voting booths in a school gym] Steve Sanchez/Shutterstock Count Angel Salazar of Staten Island among the New Yorkers disappointed by a state Supreme Court justice’s ruling throwing out a measure that would have allowed noncitizens in New York City to vote in municipal elections. Salazar, a 22-year-old Mexican-born recipient of the immigrant-protection program DACA who would have gained voting rights under the new law, said last week’s ruling was "disheartening." Due to Republican political control of much of Staten Island, where the case was heard, many people in his community "are ignored by a government that they pay taxes to through their jobs," Salazar said. He added: "We felt that we needed someone to represent us." Immigrant rights advocates say they plan to appeal New York Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio’s order striking down the law passed by the New York City Council late last year. It took effect in January, granting an estimated 800,000 to 1 million noncitizens the right to vote in municipal elections, including next year's races for City Council seats. The judge’s ruling was celebrated by Republicans, a group of whom filed a lawsuit shortly after the law was passed. "Voting is a sacred right of U.S. citizens," wrote U.S. Representative and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin of Long Island on Twitter. "No way should noncitizens be allowed to vote!" Porzio, who sits on Staten Island, ruled that the measure violated the state constitution. "Based upon a plain reading of the New York State Constitution," wrote Porzio, "'every citizen,' in this Court’s opinion, means every citizen of the United States." But proponents of the law point out that noncitizens were allowed to vote in school board elections in New York City until school boards were abolished in 2002. And currently, a number of municipalities across the country allow noncitizens to vote, including 11 jurisdictions in Maryland and two in Vermont. San Francisco also allows noncitizens to vote in school board elections. "This is not an issue that has been litigated ever before," said Cesar Ruiz, an attorney at Latino Justice, one of the groups that's appealing the ruling. "It presents some really novel and new issues." Latino Justice and other immigrant rights groups are arguing that state citizenship is distinct from federal citizenship. "Citizenship is used to describe an individual’s relationship with either the state or country they live in," reads one memo shared by Ruiz. But the attempt to redefine citizen hasn't been embraced by all immigrant rights advocates. "I think we thought the framing of 'citizen' is in itself problematic," said Fahd Ahmed, the executive director of DRUM – Desis Rising Up and Moving, a group that represents low-wage South Asian and Indo-Caribbean New Yorkers and strongly advocated for the new law. "People live here, work here, contribute to the social fabric, and are impacted by policies," said Ahmed. "That in itself, regardless of 'status,' should give people a right on ALL the things that will impact their lives. In the absence of such a framework, many electeds do often make calculations on which communities are worthy of being responsive to based on potential vote banks." --------------------------------------------------------------- 🗳️ --------------------------------------------------------------- [Ad: We connect health and social care. click here to find out more at unite us dot org]( Advertisement --------------------------------------------------------------- For Further Reading [Lee Zeldin's headshot next to Kathy Hochul's] [So begins four months of Lee Zeldin vs. Kathy Hochul]( Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Lee Zeldin began attacking each other moments after winning their respective primaries. [voters in a school gym] [Gubernatorial primary turnout: Not that bad!]( Errol Louis notes in New York magazine that despite the redistricting fiasco that broke up this year's primaries, a total of 1.3 million New Yorkers cast ballots in the June 28th contest. [Joseph Percoco leaving federal court in 2018] [U.S. Supreme Court to take up case of ex-Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco]( The court signaled that it will review Joseph Percoco's bribery-related felony charges from his time working on Andrew Cuomo's 2014 campaign. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🗳️ --------------------------------------------------------------- [Ad: We connect health and social care. click here to find out more at unite us dot org]( Advertisement [the logo for Brian Lehrer's politics podcast] [Christina Greer on New York's primary results]( "I think we're going to, over the next few months, really have an in-depth conversation about the influence of money in this particular race," said Fordham professor Christina Greer. [LISTEN]( Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential political coverage and more. 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