Illegal immigrants, sorry, migrants can't vote in New York City

Migrants waiting for lodging in a public realm at Herald Square-photo by JQ LLC

 

  The Hill

A New York appeals court ruled Wednesday that a law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections in New York City violates the state’s constitution.

The Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department ruled against the bill allowing noncitizens to vote in local New York City elections, including for mayor, in a 3-1 decision released Wednesday. The New York City Council approved the bill in 2021, which quickly faced a lawsuit challenging the law after Mayor Eric Adams (D) enacted it in 2022.

“This case concerns the validity of Local Law No. 11 (2022) of City of New York, which created a new class of voters eligible to vote in municipal elections consisting of individuals who are not United States citizens and who meet certain enumerated criteria,” Associate Justice Paul Wooten wrote in the appeals court decision.

“We determine that this local law was enacted in violation of the New York State Constitution and Municipal Home Rule Law, and thus, must be declared null and void,” he added.

This delivered a win for those who filed a lawsuit against the bill, including Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who celebrated the news on X, formerly Twitter.

“Great news! We won in the appellate court and @NYCMayor’s attempt to implement the law to register noncitizens to vote in #NYC elections has been struck down. This is a big victory in preserving both the integrity of our elections & the voice of American citizens!” she said.

Others who joined the lawsuit included New York City Council Republican leader Joe Borelli, who told Politico it was “an easy case.” Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella was also listed as a plaintiff in the case.

“All they had to do was read the state constitution and municipal law. The criticism falls on the proponents of the bill,” Borelli told Politico.

A New York Supreme Court justice also ruled in 2022 that the law violated the state’s constitution. The law would have allowed an estimated 800,000 noncitizens to vote in New York City if it was enacted, according to The Associated Press.

New York Democrats gerrymandering attempt kiboshed

City and State 

 

New York’s highest court tossed out both congressional and state Senate district maps on Wednesday, ruling that they were both drawn in violation of the constitution.

In a majority 4-3 decision, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the maps must be redrawn by a neutral expert, acknowledging that “it will likely be necessary to move the congressional and senate primary elections to August,” Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote, ordering the Supreme Court to oversee the process.

While the court ruled both maps were procedurally unconstitutional, the judges wrote that the congressional map was clearly gerrymandered “with impermissible partisan purpose.”

The decision comes after the new, bipartisan Independent Redistricting Committee, established by voters in 2014, failed to come to an agreement on the electoral maps, putting the power in the hands of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature, which approved the newly redrawn maps in February. 

“The legislature responded by creating and enacting maps in a nontransparent manner controlled exclusively by the dominant political party – doing exactly what they would have done had the 2014 constitutional reforms never been passed,” DiFiore wrote. 

The now-voided maps would have given Democrats advantages in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts. The new state Senate map redistributed two more of the 63 districts to New York City, following population trends, and gave  Democrats a better position in three Republican-held districts. 

After Democrats released the maps, Republicans promptly filed a lawsuit arguing that the process for approving the maps was “constitutionally defective” and that the congressional map in particular was “unconstitutionally gerrymandered in favor of the majority party,” according to the decision issued Wednesday.