Opinion

HICKS: New York City’s Non-Citizen Voting Proposal Is Another Egregious Democrat Assault On Election Integrity

REUTERS/Bing Guan

Thomas Hicks Jr. Contributor
Font Size:

For the better part of a year, Democrats have tried and failed to force a federal takeover of our elections. With Americans rejecting their partisan power grabs, Democrats are now going for broke when it comes to attacking election integrity: letting foreign citizens vote in American elections.

Earlier this year, Democrats in the Vermont Legislature doubled down on a radical plan to let non-citizens vote in two Vermont cities. The Republican National Committee (RNC) recently announced we are suing in response. Now, Democrats want to do the same thing they did in Vermont in America’s largest city. This week, the New York City Council is considering a measure that would allow more than 800,000 non-citizens to vote in their city’s elections. In Democrat-dominated New York, the proposal is expected to pass easily. It should concern every American that these assaults on our elections are gaining traction in both small towns and big cities.

It isn’t surprising why the left is leading a coordinated push to let non-citizens decide our elections. As they learned last month in Virginia, Democrats know that voters are rejecting their failed policies. That’s why they want to open the voter rolls up to anyone who they think will vote to rubber stamp their radical agenda. It’s clear Democrats are hell-bent on gaining political power. If they have to diminish what it means to be an American citizen and dilute the value of Americans’ vote to do it, that’s a price they’re are willing to pay.

In the past, such progressive fantasies might have been fodder for debate on liberal college campuses – and nothing more. Sadly, today such extreme ideas are accepted as mainstream in the Democrat Party. In addition to being blatantly unconstitutional under New York law– something even New York City’s Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio has conceded – letting non-citizens vote is a terribly unwise idea.

Remember, in 2020 New York City proved that they couldn’t manage to run primary elections without making a complete mess of the process. Their shoddy administration of mail-in ballots was especially deserving of criticism.

We saw similar chaos earlier this year, when we didn’t know the winner of New York city’s Democratic mayoral primary for weeks under the city’s new ranked-choice system.

Now imagine adding a second, separate list of residents who can vote in municipal – but not state or federal – elections to the rolls. It’s a recipe for disaster that would lead to even more delays between the time voters cast their ballots and when they find out the results. None of this is good for restoring faith in our democratic processes.

Fortunately, Republicans are fighting back. Just like we did in Vermont, the RNC is keeping every legal option on the table in New York City to ensure this egregious attempt to subvert the rights of American citizens never becomes law.

The American people are on our side. Polling shows that more than 7 in 10 voters oppose giving non-citizens the right to vote.  In 2020 voters in four states – including deep-blue Colorado – strongly supported ballot initiatives that prevent non-citizens from voting. Americans also agree with us when it comes to maintaining basic ballot security safeguards that Democrats are trying to strip away. When asked, time and again Americans say that they support common sense measures like requiring voter ID by overwhelming margins.

While Democrats are doing everything they can to erode the pillars of our constitutional foundation, Republicans are working overtime to secure election integrity and restore confidence in election outcomes. Over the summer, Texas Republican leaders passed legislation that makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat in the Lone Star State. They were following the example of states like Georgia and Florida that took similar steps to make sure their states had basic safeguards to ensure free, fair and transparent elections. It’s also why the RNC is involved in 30 lawsuits nationwide to defend election integrity against bad-faith, politically-motivated attacks coming from Democrats.

The case of New York City crystalizes just how far Democrats are willing to go to undermine election integrity. It goes without saying that voting is an immense privilege and responsibility. It’s also a right that should be reserved for U.S. citizens. Democrats want to water the meaning of citizenship down just so they consolidate power. The RNC isn’t going to let them. Our country will be better off for it.

Tommy Hicks Jr. is the co-chair of the Republican National Committee.