Are You For or Against Giving Non-Citizens the Right to Vote in America?

The topic of discussion for this Constitutional Monday is the constitutional right of American citizens to vote in elections. Most Americans understand why only citizens should have the right to vote in elections, but some Democrat-led cities are passing laws to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.

Washington, D.C. was the first city to allow non-citizens to vote in elections. They were joined by New York City when the legislature there passed their own such bill. Armstrong Williams published an article in The Daily Signal containing the following statement: 

The New York City Legislature, following in the footsteps of Washington, D.C., passed a groundbreaking bill into law in 2022. The law would have allowed any lawful permanent resident or green card holder to vote in a New York City election. That law was met with legal challenges as quickly as it was passed, which was to be expected, given that it flagrantly infringed upon the state’s constitution.

The Constitution of New York states unequivocally, “every citizen shall be entitled to vote ….” This provision’s meaning is so obvious that it has been painful to see the far-left liberal New York City Council pass a law that violates it. It is evident that the New York City Legislature misplaced its reading glasses, as it would not have enacted a law that contradicts the New York Constitution in such a bizarre way.

The majority opinion, authored by appellate Judge Paul Wooten, stated, “The plain language of this provision provides that the right to vote in ‘every election for all officers elected by the people’ is available exclusively to citizens.”

Unsurprisingly, pro-immigrant organizations denounced the decision, calling it “shameful” and saying it “disenfranchise[s] residents.” Disenfranchises? Really? This remark is as illogical as it is absurd. The only people disenfranchised by this law are United States citizens.

Voter disenfranchisement entails impeding an individual’s ability to exercise his or her right to vote or diminishing the value of his or her vote. The reason the Electoral College is reviled by the Left is because, according to its worldview, it confers greater value on specific votes than others, especially in smaller states.

The right to vote is sacred. However, the Left has forgotten that it must be earned, not given. Not earned in the conventional sense of passing a test to acquire, like the racist literacy tests of the past; rather, acquired through enduring the complexities and challenges associated with being a citizen. Becoming a citizen is not a simple task. Individuals must either be so lucky as to be born in the United States or endure a laborious and sometimes years long application process.

Williams’ article continued by explaining that individuals should prepare and deserve the right to vote. In the first case, a person born in the United States goes “through the government-mandated educational system and complied with the laws of this country for his or her entire lives.” While doing so, “they fulfilled their responsibilities” by living in obedience to the nation’s laws, even if those laws brought hardship to them.

In the second case, those people “who obtain citizenship have demonstrated their readiness to undertake substantial obligations and sacrifices to integrate into a foreign nation.” In doing so, they not only “become proficient in a foreign language,” but they “have sworn allegiance to a new nation after navigating a complex legal system.”

Nothing of the sort applies to noncitizens. There are undoubtedly many noncitizens loyal to this country, but they, like everyone else, must undergo the same process to demonstrate that they have earned the right to vote. It is inequitable to accord equal weight to the votes of transient individuals who enter the country for 3economic purposes, return their funds to their country of origin, or who are mere public charges, in comparison to those who have sworn allegiance to the United States and who have gone through the process to become a citizen.

We often hear some variation of “America is a land of immigrants.” This statement is true when speaking of legal immigration. If a migrant comes to the United States illegally, they are not an immigrant. They are an invader of America who has taken advantage of lax Democrat policies and loopholes in America’s laws. They should not receive the same rights as legal citizens.