By Donna Lamb

The New York City Council’s Government Operations Committee, chaired by Deputy Majority Leader Bill Perkins, recently held a hearing on the Voting Rights Restoration Act. This legislation would allow documented non-citizens who have lived in New York City for six months or longer the right to vote in local elections for Mayor, City Council, Borough President, Public Advocate, and Comptroller.

As the speakers at both the press conference preceding the hearing and the hearing itself made clear, this is a vitally important issue in this “City of immigrants.” Stated Council Member Charles Barron, “Immigrants make up 20% of New York’s adult population. They contribute a tremendous amount to the intellectual, cultural and economic capital of this city. It is time to allow them to vote so they have a say in what happens in their lives.”

Council Member Kendall Stewart, Chair of the Immigration Committee, noted in an interview that when one gets a green card, it means they are equal to everybody else in terms of working and being involved in the system. “They are expected to fight in this country’s wars, pay the exact same tax rate as citizens, and perform every other duty as a citizen except vote,” Stewart said. “To me, that's a form of discrimination.”

“Non-citizen voting rights is not a new idea,” declared Perkins, the bill’s lead sponsor. “It is as old as the founding of this country and the notion of ‘No taxation without representation.’ And it is as New York as the bagel because there was a time when all you had to do was get off the boat and you could vote.”

The historical background for Perkins’ statement was presented in abundance, as person after person illuminated the fact that it is truly the restoration of voting rights that is being sought, not the establishment of them.

Political science teacher Ron Hayduk pointed out that non-citizen immigrants enjoyed voting rights throughout most of America's history. From 1776 to 1926, as many as forty states and federal territories permitted them to vote in local, state and even federal elections. Occasionally, non-citizens even held public office. From 1968 to 2003 New York City allowed all parents with children in the public schools - regardless of their citizenship status - to vote in community school board elections. “The notion that non-citizens should have the vote is older, was practiced longer, and is more consistent with democratic ideals than the idea that they should not,” Hayduk stated. “Curiously, this 150-year history has been eviscerated from national memory.”

Further, Cheryl Wertz, Director of Government Access at New Immigrant Community Empowerment, explained that non-citizens vote in at least some level of elections in more than 35 countries around the world. Here in the US non-citizens have been voting in municipal elections in 6 cities in Maryland since the mid-1990s, and there are active campaigns to reinstate voting rights in more than 17 states. “Let me be clear,” she stated. “The right to vote is not about – and has never been about - citizenship. It is about controlling who has a right to have a say in government. The obvious answer is stakeholders - those individuals who live, work, study, pay taxes, and raise children in a particular community.”

That immigrants are stakeholder was obvious as Kenyan-born Rhoda Muchoki testified. “Whatever happens in New York City affects me directly,” she said. “Rent hikes, fare hikes, tax hikes, the state of the public schools, the crime rate, unaffordable housing, Avian Flu and September 11th - nothing good or bad skips over me because I am not a citizen.”

Muchoki went on to explain that she wants to vote because “I want to ask not just what New York City can do for me, but also what I can do for New York City.” She said she was an active, productive and creative citizen of her own country and would now like to devote her energies and goodwill to the service of her adopted home. “Voting gives me the power to support ideas, proposals and initiatives that are good for the City and to shoot them down if I don't think they are,” she concluded.

During the hearing, Council Member Michael Nelson played the useful role of devils advocate by putting forth the viewpoint of many US-born people who believe that voting is a privilege that should only be conferred upon citizens. Anthony Ng from United Neighborhood Houses explained that many immigrants are trying very hard to become citizens, but, through no fault of their own, they are trapped in the enormous backlog of the immigration system. There are also countless immigrants who are eager to take English classes so they can pass the exam, but there are huge waiting lists for them as well.

Another speaker, Chuck Mohan, who represented Guyanese American Workers United, believes that non-citizen immigrants have already earned the right to vote. “New York City prides itself on being ‘the most diverse city in the world’ and a ‘melting pot,’” he commented. “However, approximately 1.3 million non-citizens who pay 15.5% of the State’s income taxes or 18.2 billion in taxes annually are denied the basic human right to vote. This statistic alone is a reason to support this initiative. Immigrants are making a valuable contribution to the economic life of the State and City.”

Andy Humm read testimony by former Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, who pointed out that a citizen can move to New York City from California and register to vote in local elections immediately without knowing anything about the issues or the candidates; however, if a person immigrated here ten years ago from another country and has contributed to the City for a decade culturally and economically, they still have no say in how their town is governed unless they’ve achieved federal citizenship. “But I ask you,” Lynch continued, “who is more of a New Yorker and who is better qualified to vote in local elections: the Californian who got here five minutes ago or the Brazilian who has dwelt here for a decade?”

Committee Chair Bill Perkins concluded the hearing by thanking the 19 speakers for their excellent testimony.

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