In the nearly two decades since Melissa John came to New York City from Trinidad and Tobago she has earned multiple degrees, taught in the public schools, and now works for the Department of Education as a literacy coach. But because John is a green card holder and not a citizen, current law prevents her from voting.
“It’s taxation without representation, 2.0,” said John, 38, who is hoping proposed legislation gaining steam in the City Council would change that.
On Monday, the City Council will hold a hearing on a proposal that would extend voting rights in local elections to people like John, along with 900,000 legal, permanent residents who have been living in New York City for more than 30 days and are otherwise eligible to vote. While the bill (Intro. 1867) is supported by a majority of the current members of the council and a coalition of community organizations, it faces steep obstacles, starting with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“I don’t believe it is legal,” the mayor said on Friday during an appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show. He said the city’s lawyers believe the change must be made at the state level and he described his own, “mixed feelings” about the proposed law, suggesting he would prefer people go through the full naturalization process.
The push towards citizenship is an argument people like John have heard before.
“Everyone says, ‘just go become a citizen,’ and it’s not that simple,” she said. The process often involves a lengthy waiting period which can take up to eight years after a person gets a green card. It’s also expensive, costing nearly a thousand dollars to adjust your legal status.
Advocates also said there is a strong moral case to be made on behalf of thousands of immigrant New Yorkers, many of whom have also been designated essential workers, to have a voice in the policies that impact their day-to-day lives.
“I think we felt that very acutely during COVID,” said Nora Moran, director of policy and advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses, a non-profit that supports neighborhood-based organizations and one of the lead community organizers backing this legislation.
“Just seeing all of the decisions being made around essential workers, whether to open or close schools, and there were 900,000 people who were not able to weigh in on those issues,” she added.
She also suggested the mayor was wrong about the legality of the bill, noting that advocates found there was nothing in the state or federal constitution that would prohibit New York City from doing this. “We’d love to have that conversation with his Law Department,” she added, a “conversation” that would likely be in court.
Even if the legislation were to pass the City Council, and members were to override a mayoral veto, it is unlikely the law would be implemented without a court challenge. There are several other measures requiring the city Board of Elections to change its operations that were never enacted by the agency, such as the online voter registration law.
During their meeting earlier this week, city BOE commissioners debated whether they should even send a representative to Monday’s hearing. Executive Director Michael Ryan referred implicitly to the online registration bill, saying the city has been down this path before, where the Council passes a measure that the state Board of Elections, evenly divided between Democrat and Republican control, takes a split decision on.
“Then somehow it always falls back into the lap of the city Board of Elections as if we’re somehow being intentionally resistant when we’re simply caught between the institutional tension of the wants of the City Council and the requirements of the state election law,” Ryan said.
Despite potential obstacles from the de Blasio administration and election officials, there may still be a chance for the legislation to gain support from City Hall in the near future. Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams has made extending voting rights to legal permanent residents part of his campaign platform. He’s expected to submit written testimony to the Council hearing on Monday, once again, voicing support.
Still, advocates said now was the time to change the law so that New York was positioned as a leader on immigration issues and voting rights when other communities across the country were confronted with increasingly restrictive voting laws.
"The fact that de Blasio is even considering using his first and likely only veto to deny 900,000 New Yorkers their voting rights puts him in the same category as Texas and Georgia Republicans,” said Paul Westrick, senior manager of democracy policy with the New York Immigration Coalition. “To say he has 'mixed feelings' about the bill is the same as saying he has mixed feelings about whether immigrants are really part of New York. What kind of legacy is he leaving?"
