Legal Foundation Sues New York City to Keep Non-Citizens from Voting in Municipal Elections

A federal judge has been asked to enjoin the City of New York and the New York City Board of Elections from registering non-citizens to vote and from counting their votes.

On Aug. 29, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a complaint alleging Local Law 11, passed by the city council on Dec. 9, 2021, violates the civil rights of four American citizens registered to vote in the metropolis.

PILF is a national public interest law firm wholly dedicated to election integrity.

Local Law 11 amends the city charter to allow non-citizens who are lawful permanent residents, and persons authorized to work in the United States in New York City, to participate in municipal elections.

The law states in part, “eligible municipal voters shall have the right to vote in municipal elections and shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as U.S. citizen voters with regard to municipal elections.”

Plaintiffs are asking the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York to declare that Local Law 11 violates the prohibitions on discriminatory purpose contained in the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The complaint also asks the court to find that Local Law 11 was adopted with an impermissible racial intent in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

A portion of the United States Constitution

The lawsuit alleges that, as a result of the city’s action, the weight of the votes of the four plaintiffs, all U.S. citizens, will be diminished, causing them continuing injury.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers presented recent demographics to illustrate the situation.

According to the complaint, New York City has about 5 million registered voters.

One million adult non-citizens live in New York City.

Newly eligible foreign voters

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