A straightforward election law case in New York has effectively ended the possibility of noncitizens and illegal immigrants voting in municipal elections, according to Thursday reports.
In the final days of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, the city council approved a law that would have granted municipal voting rights to over 800,000 newly arrived residents, and neither de Blasio nor his successor, Eric Adams, chose to veto the law, resulting in its automatic enactment in 2022.
Since then, the dispute over non-citizen voting in New York has focused on the state constitution, which explicitly states that only U.S. citizens aged 18 and older are eligible to vote and that local governments cannot override this requirement. Leading the legal challenge was Joe Borelli, former Republican minority leader of the New York City Council, who served as a plaintiff in the successful lawsuit.
“We file some lawsuits that are stretches,” he told Politico after the state Court of Appeals ruled 6-1 to strike down the law. “This one was, from the beginning, an open-and-shut case.”
The ruling saw nearly all of the court’s progressive justices join their conservative and moderate colleagues in challenging a law that conflicted with the constitutional clause stating, “every citizen shall be entitled to vote at every election for all officers elected by the people”—the “key term being “citizen.”
Opponents of the New York law argued that this provision bars noncitizens and undocumented immigrants from voting, while Democrats and progressive voter advocacy groups countered that it should be interpreted as a minimum standard for voter access—not a limit—and that local governments have the authority to expand voting rights beyond that baseline.
“Under that interpretation, municipalities are free to enact legislation that would enable anyone to vote – including … thirteen-year-old children,” Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote for the majority.
“It is plain from the language and restrictions contained in [the state constitution] that ‘citizen’ is not meant as a floor, but as a condition of voter eligibility: the franchise extends only to citizens whose right to vote is established by proper proofs,” Wilson added.
The appeals court’s decision followed two earlier victories for Republicans in lower courts, reinforcing their legal argument that the right to vote should remain reserved for U.S. citizens.
“As the court had held from the very beginning, the law is clear that voting is a sacred right that is for United States citizens,” said Assemblymember Michael Tannousis, a Staten Island Republican and another plaintiff in the case. “As the son of immigrants that came to New York for the American dream and worked hard to become naturalized citizens, I am content with today’s ruling.”
New York City never put its 2022 law into effect. Supporters estimated it would have extended voting rights to roughly 800,000 noncitizens with legal permanent residency or work authorization in the U.S. The law would have allowed them to vote in local elections—such as for mayor, city council, and other municipal offices—but not in federal or state contests like those for president, Congress, or governor.
State Republican officials swiftly filed suit, and courts at every level ultimately struck the law down, The Associated Press noted. Many GOP officials hailed the ruling.
“Efforts by radical Democrats on the New York City Council to permit noncitizen voting have been rightly rejected,” NYGOP Chair Ed Cox said in a statement. The Republicans’ attorney, Michael Hawrylchak, said they were pleased that the court recognized the state constitution’s “fundamental limits” on who is eligible to vote.
New York Speaker Adrienne Adams said she was disappointed in the outcome but respected the court.
“The council sought to strengthen our city’s democratic process and increase civic engagement by enfranchising the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who pay taxes and contribute to our communities but are unable to make their voices heard in local elections,” she said in a statement.
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