New York City and New York state are actively considering proposals to allow non-citizens to vote:
Over the last few weeks, New York state has been considering a law to make nearly three million non-citizen residents eligible to vote. A similar piece of legislation soon to be reintroduced to the New York City Council, which actually has a decent shot at passage, would give more than one million legal non-citizen residents the right to vote in local elections.
And of course, being a liberal himself, Hayduk is not against these proposals. He believes that immigration is good, and so the more, the merrier. As he puts it:
Non-citizen immigrants work, pay taxes, send their children to schools, start businesses, revitalize neighborhoods, and contribute mightily to the vitality of our communities in countless ways on a daily basis. But they have no formal say over how their taxes are spent. Local voting rights would not only address this taxation without representation but also would strengthen municipal governing institutions by making them responsive and accountable to all, which is after all, the essence of democracy.
Got that? As soon as people come here, Hayduk says, they should become voters. Forget all that rigamarole of citizenship; just get them to the polls.
