Federal judge tossed lawsuit challenging D.C.’s nonresident voting law

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a local law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, saying the plaintiffs had proven the law violated their rights. It was ruled that no.

in opinion In a decision issued Thursday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that a group of seven plaintiffs, all of whom argued that the city’s Local Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 violated their Fifth Amendment rights was a U.S. citizen and registered to vote in D.C.).

The law, passed by the D.C. Council in 2022, removed citizenship requirements for voting in local elections and allowed noncitizen residents to vote in local elections, but not in federal elections, according to court documents. I made it impossible to vote. This includes being able to vote on local government initiatives, referendums, recalls, and charter amendment actions, as well as local government initiatives.

The law also allows non-citizen residents to run for D.C. government office and serve on the city’s Board of Elections, according to court filings.

The lawsuit, filed against the Washington, D.C., Board of Elections, claimed that the law “dilutes the votes of all American voters in the district.” The plaintiffs argue that granting noncitizens the right to vote violates their fundamental right to vote and discriminates against American citizens living in Washington, D.C., and native-born Americans, while violating their “constitutional right to civil self-government.” claimed to have done so.

According to the filing, the plaintiffs asked the judge to stop the Election Commission from registering non-citizens to vote and counting their votes.

Mr. Jackson ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that anything had been “deprived or diminished” from them as a result of the law.

“They may object as a matter of policy to the fact that immigrants can vote, but their vote does not carry any less weight or be treated differently than the vote of a non-citizen. They They have not lost their right to representation in any legislative body, and the people as a whole may not be subject to discriminatory gerrymandering or “packing” to divide, concentrate, or devalue their votes. It has never been blown or cracked. ”

Jackson argued that the plaintiffs were “just fomenting general grievances.”

The Hill has reached out to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and the D.C. Elections Commission, for comment.

Among the plaintiffs are Stacia Hall, who ran as a Republican and lost to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (Democrat) in 2022, and Ralph Chittams, a Republican candidate for an at-large seat on the City Council in 2018. is also included.

The D.C. law came to light on Capitol Hill, but the House last year approved a pair of resolutions disapproving the bill and its criminal code. This was part of an effort to block D.C. from enforcing the measure, a power given to Congress under the D.C. Home Rule Act.

of The resolution was not voted on. The Senate has 30 days to pass the bill, allowing it to become law.