Yes, you read that right. Mayor Eric Adams of New York City is allowing over 800,000 non-citizens and “Dreamers” the right to vote. While they can’t vote for President or Congress, or in state elections, they do have a voice in the smaller local elections. New York City isn’t alone here, several small cities in Maryland and Vermont allow this as well.
To play devil’s advocate, I can see why this idea was brought up. Legal non-citizens already have the right to work and reside in the area, so allowing them the right to vote in the local elections only “makes sense” because they’re already “a part” of the local community. The problem I have with this is that they’re not really a part of the local community. If they were, they’d be legal citizens. My friends and family have every right to come over to stay in my place for a few days, but they’re going to be operating under my rules. They can’t just stay at my home and then vote to change the rules, after all, they’re just staying there temporarily. The same applies to the legal non-citizens; there’s a reason they aren’t a citizen.
The right to vote should be left for legal U.S. citizens and anything else, I’d argue, diminishes the vote of every legal citizen and discourages those on the path to citizenship and gaining this right. This country does too much to please everyone, and at some point we just have to stop with the pity parties. People who are not citizens should not be given the honor to vote in this country. I can’t imagine living abroad for a few months and having the right to vote and change the course of their local politics. That’s pure lunacy.
I’m not surprised New York of all places is allowing this to happen, but I hope more people rise up to speak out against this measure because the right to vote needs to stick with the legal citizens.
