While hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers took to the polls to cast their votes for various city offices and ballot measures, in one corner of Queens a different sort of election unfolded.
Organizers from the New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights (NYCEVR), a group dedicated to restoring the franchise to nearly one million of New York City’s legal immigrants ineligible to vote, conducted a mock election in Jackson Heights, complete with mock voting booths, ballot boxes and “poll workers”.
According to the group, their effort was designed to draw attention to the fact that an estimated 900,000 legal immigrants— individuals holding green cards, student visas, worker visas, or otherwise legally permitted to reside in the country— are denied the right to participate in local elections.
Irma Rodriguez, Executive Director of Queens Community House said “It’s an issue of plain fairness and democracy. A lot of things are decided by our legislative bodies that really affect people at the local level, and when you have a huge population who have no way to vote for the people who make these decisions, then our democracy loses and our neighborhoods lose. Their vote may not ‘count’ this time, but their desire to participate as a New Yorker with other New Yorkers will be seen and heard. And hopefully, by this time in November 2017, we’ll all be standing side by side at the voting booth.”
This sentiment was echoed by the many immigrants that turned out for the mock election held in Jackson Height’s bustling Diversity Plaza. After casting her ballot, Yolanda Andersson, a resident of Queens and member the Humanist Party, said “Today, after 13 years in this country, it’s the first time that I’m voting. Of course it’s symbolic, but as a Humanist and a member of NYCEVR, we are working to make sure that next year all legal residents will be able to choose their elected officials for the city.” “Lilian Castillo, a Jackson Heights resident, added “I would like to have the opportunity to exercise my right to vote in local elections, and with that right, the power to decide who will manage the distribution of the tax dollars I pay to the City.
Coalition organizers stress that although their election was unique- believed to be first of its kind in the nation- the premise of immigrant voting is not new. “Historically, noncitizen immigrants voted in local, state and even federal elections in 40 states from 1776 to 1926,” said Ron Hayduk, a Professor of Political Science at Queens College and noted author on the subject. “Immigrant voting is as American as apple pie, older than our national pastime of baseball, and facilitated the civic participation and incorporation of generations of immigrants.”
Hayduk’s scholarship also documents the revival of immigrant voting today: “Currently, noncitizens immigrants vote in six towns in Maryland and local school elections in Chicago. In addition, four towns in Massachusetts (Cambridge, Amherst, Brookline, Newton) have enacted local laws restoring immigrant voting awaiting state enabling legislation, and right here in NYC immigrant voting in Community School Board Elections was permitted from 1969-2002.” Hayduk also pointed to international trends, citing the fact that at least 45 countries have adopted some form of immigrant voting during the last 30-40 years.
In New York City, and particularly in Jackson Heights, one of the City’s districts with the highest rate of ineligible voters, the significance of restoring immigrant voting rights is not lost on elected leaders. Council Member Daniel Dromm (D-25) has represented Jackson Heights and Elmhurst since 2009 and is the is the prime sponsor of Intro 410, legislation that would restore municipal voting rights to immigrants lawfully present in New York City for at least six months. At a press conference held in support of the mock election Dromm emphasized that “Voting is a basic right in a democracy. Fifty five percent of the people in my district are not able to vote because of their immigration status. That’s not what this country is about. The majority rules with protection for the minority. People who are legally present in the United States and who work, pay taxes and live in our neighborhoods must have the opportunity to participate in municipal elections.”
“Whenever a voter registration deadline approaches, there’s an uptick in the number of people who come to my office asking for United States citizenship application information,” said State Senator Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst). “Many of those same people ask for help in paying the nearly $900 required to apply for citizenship. People living in New York City and raising their families and paying taxes here should have the right to vote. And that right shouldn’t be contingent on whether they can afford to pay the citizenship application fees. Council Member Dromm’s bill is a common-sense measure that represents a very long stride toward enfranchising immigrant communities.”
“All New Yorkers deserve the right to vote,” Council Member Julissa Ferreras (D-21) said. “As a member of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus and a daughter of immigrants, I strongly support Council Member Dromm’s bill to expand voting in all municipal elections to anyone over the age of 18 legally residing in the City. Every single day, hundreds of immigrants come to our great City in search of the American Dream, and as legislators, it is our responsibility to embrace and empower them. There is no better way to do this then to engage them in the electoral process. I look forward to the passage of this essential bill and working with my colleagues in local government to make the American Dream the American Reality.”
“The time has come for the City to allow all legal residents to vote in municipal elections,” said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-8), “Imagine what adding over 1 million New Yorkers to the electorate would mean for civic engagement and fair representation in our communities. I look forward to working with Council Member Dromm and my colleagues to advance this piece of legislation in the City Council next session.”
Set against the backdrop of a General Election that resulted in the election of a number of Council Members that plan on joining the Progressive Caucus— which holds immigrant voting as one of its 13 priorities— organizers are optimistic that Intro 410 will be enacted in the coming year.
Kevin Douglas, a Policy Analyst with United Neighborhood Houses (UNH), and an organizer of the mock election, believes that New York City is poised to open a new chapter in nationwide efforts to better integrate immigrants into the communities they live and work in. Today we are living in a time of dysfunction in Washington D.C., derailed Comprehensive Immigration Reform efforts, and a systemic dismantling of voting rights across the country. Yet here in New York City we have the unique opportunity to not only demonstrate our recognition of, and appreciation for, the role immigrants play in making our city thriving and vibrant, but we can also strengthen our local democratic systems by including the voice of those that have been shut out for so long.”
