NY's highest court asked to weigh in on NYC's noncitizen voting law
Source: Gothamist
A 50-year-old civil rights law firm is asking the state’s highest court to overturn a lower court decision striking down New York City's noncitizen voting law and allow it to take effect a month after it was blocked.
Attorneys from the nonprofit LatinoJustice filed a notice of appeal on Friday after last month’s 3-to-1 ruling against Local Law 11. The law would apply to elections for local offices — including City Council, mayor, public advocate, comptroller and borough president — and would grant certain noncitizens in New York City, such as green card holders and those with work authorizations, the right to cast a ballot.
“This is a group that contributes financially to the success of the city. It’s a backbone of our culture and of our existence,” said Cesar Ruiz, associate counsel at LatinoJustice, referring to the city’s nearly one million legal immigrants who would be able to register as municipal voters under the law. “It was a blatant contradiction to us that they couldn’t vote.”
The drawn-out battle over the law runs in parallel with some of the thorniest and most controversial socioeconomic and policy challenges facing the city in recent years, where immigrant New Yorkers are repeatedly at the center of the debate, beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic and the more recent arrival of thousands of migrants.
Read more: https://gothamist.com/news/ny-highest-court-asked-to-weigh-in-on-new-york-citys-noncitizen-voting-law
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