http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/citizenship-now/immigration-city-council-discuss-allowing-non-citizen-voting-article-1.1337555Immigration: City Council to discuss allowing non-citizens to vote in city elections
An effort in 2004 to allow non-citizen voting in city elections failed; deciding who can vote has been seen as a power held by the state Legislature.
ON THURSDAY, non-citizen, immigrant voting will return to New York City’s political agenda. The City Council Committee on Immigration and the Committee on Government Relations will hold a join hearing tomorrow on non-citizen permanent resident voting in municipal elections. Council Immigration Committee Chair Daniel Dromm is leading the Council’s effort, along with Government Relations Committee Chair Gail Brewer.
Proponents of immigrant voting say that they have a veto-proof majority of Council members who favor the proposal. The last major effort to allow non-citizen voting, in 2004, failed. Proponents are hoping for a different result this year.
Many experts question whether the Council has the authority to grant permanent residents voting rights. Deciding who, when and where individuals can vote has been seen as a power held by the New York State Legislature. But some noted authorities think that New York City can allow non-citizen voting without state action. Among them are the New York County Bar Association, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Queens College Prof. Ronald Hayduk, a leading expert on immigrant voting issues, agrees. Proponents have an uphill fight in the New York State Legislature, so if the Council votes to make non-citizen voting New York City law, the courts will likely have the last word.
New York City has a tradition of inviting immigrant voting. Until the City abolished local school boards, all New York City parents, even undocumented immigrants, could vote in school board elections. That made sense. Their children felt the most impact of Board action. They had a right to say who should serve on the school board. Now, permanent residents, who pay the same taxes as U.S. citizens, seek the same public safety and serve and die for our country, want a say in electing those who run our city. That too makes sense.
The City Council hearing on non-citizen immigrant voting is open to the public. It is scheduled for Thursday, May 9, 1:00 p.m., 250 Broadway, 14th floor hearing room. For more information on non-citizen voting, go to
www.ivotenyc.org.
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The U.S. Department of State announced last month that it has posted the list of winners of the 2014 visa lottery online. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE NOTICE BY MAIL OR EMAIL. To find out if you won, you need to check online at
www.dvlottery.state.gov/. The results are for the lottery held Fall 2013. If you are a winner, you, your spouse, and your unmarried children under 21 may apply for an immigrant visa during the period that begins October 1 and ends September 30, 2014.
Since prior lottery winners were notified by mail, and the government is using email more to communicate with the public, the Department of State is emphasizing that to find out if you won is if you go to the Entrant Status Check (ESC) on the E-DV website.The DV-2014 green card lottery may be our last. Congress is considering eliminating the Diversity Visa lottery in favor of more visas for needed workers. In any event, changes in the Diversity Visa lottery program should not affect this year’s winners.
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Immigration reform update: This week, the Senate Judiciary committee is scheduled to begin “mark up” of the S.744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. This is the bill introduced by New York Senator Chuck Schumer and the bipartisan group known as the “Gang of Eight.” Mark up is when the committee debates the bill and proposes amendments. If the mark up goes as planned, the committee will “vote out” the bill, sending it to the full Senate for debate.
To become law, both the Senate and the House of Representatives must agree on a bill. It seems likely that the Senate will vote on a bill before members leave for their summer break on August 5. Some House members have suggested they might introduce their own bill soon, but my bet is that the House will wait for the Senate to Act. I expect to see a House-passed bill in September or October, and if all goes well, a new law enacted in early November.
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