New York City May Let Non-Citizens Vote (Mexico, Russia: 2013, taxes)
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The City Council will begin a hearing today on a bill to give non-citizen residents the right to vote in city elections. With 34 of the body's 51 members sponsoring the legislation, it looks like it will have enough votes to pass despite Mayor Bloomberg's opposition.
The proposal would only give legal residents the right to vote--so those who are undocumented would still not be able to. I'm on the fence about his one. One one hand, if someone is a legal resident then they are allowed live here, work here and get taxed. They are as invested in the community as anyone else. As the article states, that could be considered "taxation without representation".
On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that there would be a reciprocal agreement for a U.S. citizen being able to vote in another country.
I think there should also be a requirement that a legal (non-citizen) resident also spend at least 3/4th of their time in the U.S. to be eligible.
This is sickening. The City Council will not be stopped until NYC is forced into a major fiscal crisis. I can't stand Bloomberg either, but we'll probably see an economic disaster fairly soon after he is gone.
This is what you get when overwhelmingly most of the city keeps voting in people with little to no knowledge of how economics and government are supposed to work. That, and out right criminals.
The proposal would only give legal residents the right to vote--so those who are undocumented would still not be able to. I'm on the fence about his one. One one hand, if someone is a legal resident then they are allowed live here, work here and get taxed. They are as invested in the community as anyone else. As the article states, that could be considered "taxation without representation".
On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that there would be a reciprocal agreement for a U.S. citizen being able to vote in another country.
I think there should also be a requirement that a legal (non-citizen) resident also spend at least 3/4th of their time in the U.S. to be eligible.
I agree with you for the most part.
Alarmists will extrapolate this initiative, no question about that.
I can already hear them.
"ilegal aliens will be able to elect our next president, we might as well annex Mexico and be done with it"
NYC has a very large percentage of foreign born people. There are a lot of legal immigrants paying taxes, and positively contributing to society, so I'm actually ok with LEGAL residents voting in LOCAL elections. As long as they have lived in NYC legally for a few years ( I say more than 3 yrs) I got no problem with them voting.
On the long run, once they become citizens, they will be able to vote at all levels of government anyway.
I think immigrant non citizens were allowed to vote in many parts of the country during the 19th and early 20th centuries so this is not something new.
I will vote againt any politician who votes to let non-citizens vote.
Voting is a right of CITIZENSHIP, not of being a permanent resident. Living here with a green card is a privilege, not a right. Its privilege to be able to live here and make a living here. But the green card holder is still a guest-- not an owner. And I don't want guest who can pick up anytime and go back to the DR or Russia or China or wherever, deciding what will happen to to me and my family long after they may be gone.
I am in general in favor of immigration. As I've said before, immigrants are a short-term cost but a long-term benefit.
I am in favor of an expedited path to citizenship for immigrants who don't yet have green cards.
Moreover, remembering the long hard path for African-Americans who WERE citizens to get the franchise, I think that letting non-citizens vote is a slap in the face to that history and the black Americans who died so I could walk to the polls and vote freely.
Welcome the immigrant to New York? Definitely.
Ease the path to citizenship? Yes.
Let the non citizen vote? OVER MY DEAD BODY
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