Non-citizens in New York City could soon be given the right to vote

*First thing that came to mind? Imagine if Chicago had the same idea. Given the energized mayoral runoff there …

The thing is that there are so many immigrants in New York City, from so many different places. In fact, NYC is the preeminent immigrant city in the world. So this is, to many people, an obvious move. It would change local NYC politics, and would serve as an example to all other large metropolitan areas across the country, areas where Latinos tend to be a substantial percentage of the population. VL

By Kanishk Tharoor, The Guardian

New York City is routinely described as a “global hub”, a place so thoroughly penetrated by international capital and migration that it seems at once within and without the United States. It is the centre of American commerce and media, but its politics, demographics and worldly outlook make the Big Apple an outlier.

New York may be about to become even more distinct. The left-leaning New York City council is currently drafting legislation that would allow all legal residents, regardless of citizenship, the right to vote in city elections. If the measure passes into law, it would mark a major victory for a voting rights campaign that seeks to enfranchise non-citizen voters in local elections across the country. A few towns already permit non-citizen residents to vote locally, but New York City would be by far the largest jurisdiction to do so.

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