Posted on 04/05/2006 12:16:42 PM PDT by Icelander
Legislation granting non-citizens the right to vote is expected to pass in New York City this year, immigration rights advocates tell the Amsterdam News.
"We’re very excited and very optimistic that this will pass," New York City Councilman Charles Barron said at a recent press briefing. "We see this as the historical launching of something that should have happened a long time ago," the outspoken Democrat added.
Dubbed the "Voting Rights Restoration Act," the measure would permit immigrants who have a green card to vote in municipal elections, including for mayor, comptroller and city council, after having lived in the city for six months.
The New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights sees the measure being extended one day to state and even federal elections. "There is nothing in either the U.S. or the New York State Constitution that prevents us from expanding the franchise to include non-citizen residents," a spokesman for the group argued in January.
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Advocates claim that 22 states and federal territories allowed non-citizen voting during the 18th and 19th centuries. In New York, non-citizen residents were denied the right to vote in 1804. According to the Caribbean news service, Heartbeat News, the measure's impact on New York City elections would be substantial, adding up to 1.5 million voters to rolls. Most of the new voters, experts predict, would cast their ballots for Democrats.
While New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has voiced opposition to the proposal, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told the Amsterdam News that she's "open to talking about passage."
In a statement issued by her office, City Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito praised the measure, explaining:
"East Harlem, Mott Haven and the Upper West Side are home to at least 25 thousand non-citizens of voting age who contribute in countless ways to the economic, social and cultural vitality of District 8 and NYC as a whole. Unfortunately they are not allowed to directly participate in choosing the municipal representatives who make the policies that affect their daily lives."
and down the drain it goes..
If he claims something is going to happen, assume the opposite.
oh, my...
I'm going to do all my campaigning in China. There's over a billion non-citizens there and if only 50 or 60 million of them vote for me, I'm a shoo-in.
...Now they can vote? I'm renouncing my citizenship RIGHT NOW!
I can have free school, free welfare, free social security, preference in university/college selections, don't have to have auto insurance, the right to vote and never have to pay income taxes again!!!! Plus I can sue all you bigots who complain under hate laws!
What a wonderful country!
Non-citizen parents may vote in S.F.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco voters will have the chance to make their city the first in California to allow non-citizens to vote in school board elections if they have children in the school system.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 on Tuesday to place a charter amendment on the November ballot that would allow residents who are parents or guardians of students to cast such votes. It would apply to illegal aliens as well as other non-citizens.
"This is important because it further democratizes our society," said board President Matt Gonzalez. He wrote the measure partly as a response to what he termed "the post-Sept. 11, anti-immigrant sentiment that has taken hold in much of the rest of the country."
Although San Francisco has often been in the forefront on liberal social issues, the proposal to extend even limited voting rights to non-citizens already has generated opposition.
The city attorney advised supervisors that it if the measure is subjected to a legal challenge, a court would likely find it in conflict with the state constitution, which requires voters to be U.S. citizens.
One of the two supervisors who voted against the proposed amendment, Fiona Ma, described it as a misguided attempt to address school problems.
"There is no question that improving our schools should be a priority for this body," Ma said. "But expanding voting rights to non-citizens does nothing to further those ends."
Earlier this year, a coalition of community groups and immigrant organizations New York City was promoting the idea of allowing legal immigrants to vote in city elections there. Two city councilmen said they were drafting proposed legislation.
Since Tammany Hall sent its members to greet newly arrived immigrants all through the 1800s to sign them up as voters I would say this appears to be a return to the Good Old Days.
I was fully expecting it to say all immigrants regardless of the status of their "documentation." That will come (if the giv'em amnesty and citizenship movement hasn't already made moot the concept of "illegal immigrant.")
Wil they check ID to determine that the green card is valid?
< /sarcasm >
This is great, let's all register to vote in NYC and vote against Hillary this fall.
ping
Seems that post #7 has already made my little whine obsolete. I am soooo slow.
Islam, a Religion of Peace®? ( links, blogs, quips, quotes, aggravating pictures ) is located here- click the Pic, and scroll backwards:
"Thunder on the Border," click the picture:
( PS- my personal prediction? That picture will become one of the most widely distributed, and most hated, pictures on the internet. The Illegal lobby could not have done more damage to themselves with that "Mexican Flag Superior, America in Distress" photograph if they had tried... )
Maybe we should just kick NYC out of the US and make it an open city then.
"...Now they can vote? I'm renouncing my citizenship RIGHT NOW!"
This is another attempt to devalue citizenship. Necessary for open borders.
I am told that if you do not have your green card, other forms of ID may be substituted.
You can use either your Democrat Party card, a matricular consular card thingie, or you can simply present the race car. [/extended sarcasm]
WILL THEY VOTE REPUBLICAN??
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