New York

Contemporary movements in New York City and State

From 1970 until school boards were disbanded recently, non-citizen immigrants voted in New York City school board elections. In the early 1990s, there was a brief movement to try to reinstate immigrant voting, but it died.

A new resident voting initiative began in 2003; in early 2004 the group of advocates formally became The New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights. The Coalition is a broad and growing coalition of more than 60 organizations and individuals working to enact legislation to restore voting rights for all residents of New York City and State. For more information about the Coalition CLICK HERE.

Coalition members have been meeting with New York City community groups, leaders and legislators about the new initiative. New York City Council Member Bill Perkins introduced a bill, Intro 628, in April 2005. The bill died in committee and was re-introduced by Council Members Charles Barron and Kendall Stewart in April 2006, now known as Intro 245.

STATE LEGISLATION
Legislation has been pending at the state level since the early 1990s and was re-introduced in 2003. Two different proposals have been introduced in the State Assembly.

New York State Assembly Bill # 9180
Introduced September 24, 2003 By Vito Lopez

New York State Assembly Bill # 5129 
Introduced on February 25, 2003 by Nick Perry

OTHER REFERENCES
DANIELA GERSON, “Effort To Allow ‘Alien Suffrage’ Has Reemerged” (subscription site), The New York Sun, November 12, 2004

JONATHAN SCHIENBERG, “THE NEW NEW YORKERS:
They’re election outsiders,” New York Newsday, September 8, 2004.

The New York Times, A Citizen’s Right, April 19, 2004

WINNIE HU, Bloomberg Voices His Opposition to Voting by Noncitizens, The New York Times 
April 10, 2004.  

ROBERT F. WORTH, Push Is On to Give Legal Immigrants Vote in New York, The New York Times, April 8, 2004.

Susan Reefer, Non-citizen Voting, The Gotham Gazette, April 2004

J. Zamgba Browne, “Proposed Aliens Voting Rights Law Gaining Among Politicians,”New York Amsterdam News, May 1, 1993, at 3

Deborah Sontag, “Noncitizens & Right to Vote,” New York Times, July 31, 1992, at B1-B2

Last Updated July 15, 2006