Let our people vote

New York City is at the forefront of protecting voting rights, and leads the country in promoting the inclusion and empowerment of immigrants. This year has reinforced just how critical this work is. Across the city, immigrants and communities of color have been hit hardest by the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, we’ve also seen the power that raising one’s voice for good can have, from the neighborhood level to the federal level.

The introduction of early voting opportunities and ranked-choice voting reforms are tangible first steps toward ensuring that New Yorkers are able to better express their desires and be heard. However, approximately one million New Yorkers (of our 8.3 million total NYC population) cannot vote in local elections due to their citizenship status. These New Yorkers are legal permanent residents or have work authorization. They pay taxes, are invested in and contribute to the health of our city, and are integral to how the city functions. Yet they have no voice in its elections.

The City Council has the opportunity to change that. Intro 1867, which is supported by 52 organizations uniting under the Our City, Our Vote campaign, would expand the right to vote in local elections for City Council, mayor, public advocate, controller, and borough president, as well as local ballot referenda and other city positions. The legislation would also provide critical community education, training for poll workers and agency staff who may be handing out voter registration forms, and the ability for a voter to opt out of registering if they did so by mistake.

This isn’t just about individuals, it’s about increasing civic engagement and ensuring that our city’s leaders better understand their constituents and support policies that truly serve the neighborhoods they represent. As the vaccine enables us to move into a recovery phase, expanding the right to vote in municipal elections would provide more New Yorkers the opportunity to have a say in how their taxes are spent, how and where stimulus funding is distributed, and how public policies impact their families and communities.

Settlement houses know firsthand that politically engaged neighborhoods see results in better policies that make our communities stronger. Queens Community House, for example, serves North Corona, Queens, where 54% of residents do not hold citizenship status. Leaving the majority of a community out of the decision-making process isn’t good for anybody.

Some argue that immigrants should have to wait until they are naturalized, meaning being granted full U.S. citizenship, to vote. But the immigration system is broken and currently leaves immigrants waiting six to eight years to be naturalized. Intro 1867 allows New York City to move forward and extend the right to vote to those who have already gone to great lengths and navigated many bureaucratic hurdles to attain their status.

There is precedent for this type of voting rights expansion. New York City residents were able to vote in school board elections, regardless of their citizenship status, from 1968 until community school boards were abolished in 2002. In some city council districts, residents can vote in local Participatory Budgeting regardless of their status.

Other towns and cities across the country have restored these rights, including 10 towns in Maryland, and San Francisco for school board elections. Five towns in Massachusetts have also passed resolutions in support of immigrant voting rights. Globally, more than 45 countries allow immigrants to vote.

New York City should encourage greater civic engagement and community advocacy for good public policies that invest in and move our neighborhoods into recovery. At a time when ensuring equity is more important than ever — from policing reforms, to vaccine distribution, to economic recovery — this legislation would help ensure that more New York City residents are heard.

And more and more councilmembers agree. In just the past three months, four additional members have announced their support for the legislation by signing on as cosponsors. Intro 1867 is now backed by 29 members, plus Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, in the 51-member body, meaning the support of just four more councilmembers is needed to hold a public hearing and achieve a veto-proof majority in the City Council. With the ability to expand the right to vote in New York City within reach, the Council must take the next step of holding a public hearing and bringing this bill to the floor for a vote.

We urge City Council members, particularly those representing neighborhoods where many residents are currently not included in local elections, to take this opportunity to empower their constituents to use their voices by supporting and passing Intro 1867.