NEW: Top Court Smacks Down Law Allowing Illegals To Vote

An “open-shut” election law case in New York has closed the books on the possibility of noncitizens and illegal immigrants voting in municipal elections.

During the waning days of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, the city council approved a law which would have granted municipal voting rights to more than 800,000 newly arrived denizens. Neither he or Mayor Eric Adams chose to veto the law, and it was automatically enacted in 2022.

Since then, the fight over illegal immigrant voters in New York has centered on the state’s constitution, which stipulates that only U.S. citizens over the age of 18 are allowed to vote, and that nothing about the autonomy of local government can change that. The fight was spearheaded by Joe Borelli, the former Republican minority leader of the New York City Council who was a plaintiff in the successful lawsuit.

“We file some lawsuits that are stretches,” he told Politico after the state Court of Appeals ruled 6-1 in the opponents’ favor. “This one was, from the beginning, an open-shut case.”

The decision saw nearly all of the court’s progressive members side with their conservative and moderate counterparts to poke legal holes in a law that ran up against the constitutional phrase “every citizen shall be entitled to vote at every election for all officers elected by the people.”

Opponents of the New York law argued this line prohibited noncitizens and illegal immigrants from voting, while Democrats and progressive voter advocacy organizations contended it should be seen as a “floor” for voter access, not a ceiling, and that local governments have the power to expand voter access if they wish.

“Under that interpretation, municipalities are free to enact legislation that would enable anyone to vote – including … thirteen-year-old children,” Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote for the majority.

“It is plain from the language and restrictions contained in [the state constitution] that ‘citizen’ is not meant as a floor, but as a condition of voter eligibility: the franchise extends only to citizens whose right to vote is established by proper proofs,” Wilson wrote.

The appeals court’s decision followed two successive wins by Republicans in lower courts, further proof that they are on solid legal footing to keep the privilege of voting in the hands of U.S. citizens only.

“As the court had held from the very beginning, the law is clear that voting is a sacred right that is for United States citizens,” said Assemblymember Michael Tannousis, a Staten Island Republican and another plaintiff in the case. “As the son of immigrants that came to New York for the American dream and worked hard to become naturalized citizens, I am content with today’s ruling.”

The practice of encouraging illegal immigrants to vote or run for office has gained steam in the two months President Donald Trump has been in office. Had New York’s progressive lawmakers succeeded, they would have been in the select company of those in Oakland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and several municipalities in Vermont and Maryland, according to Ballotpedia.

In Massachusetts, a Democratic state senator recently introduced legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to run for office. Challenged about the text of the law, he initially denied including the provision, saying it limited them to voting, before correcting himself.

“You are right, I stand corrected,” Sen. Jamie Eldridge said after a reporter pointed to text in the bill.