House passes bill to ban noncitizens from voting in local D.C. elections

The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would ban non-Americans from voting in local elections in Washington, D.C., once again taking aim at the nation’s capital through legislation.

The four-page bill, which passed 262-143, would ban non-citizens from voting in municipal elections, polls and referendums. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in elections at the federal level.

The D.C. Council approved a bill to add eligible non-citizens to the definition of electoral eligibility for local elections in 2022. Seven D.C. voters filed a lawsuit against the city’s Board of Elections, but a federal court upheld the law in March, dismissing the case after a judge ruled the plaintiffs failed to prove they were harmed by the policy.

Republican lawmakers slammed the local law this week, arguing that foreigners should not be allowed to intervene in the leadership of the nation’s capital.

“The City Council has decided that they want non-citizens and foreign actors to decide who serves as mayor and local attorney general. As the body charged with oversight of Washington, D.C., Congress will not stand for such lawlessness,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Democrats, led by Democratic Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, slammed the Republican-led bill as “undemocratic” and “paternalistic.”

“The people of Washington, the majority of whom are black and brown, deserve and deserve self-government,” Norton added in remarks on the House floor. “I urge all members of Congress to vote no.”

The now-defunct media outlet DCist reported earlier this year that only 32 foreign nationals had registered to vote in D.C.’s local elections.

Republicans and some Democrats previously voiced their disapproval of the D.C. Council law in February, with 42 Democrats joining all Republicans in sponsoring a resolution condemning the local ordinance.

And the effort to kill the DC bill comes on the heels of another Republican bill that would ban non-citizens from voting in federal elections — even though there is already law banning them from voting in federal elections.

just 16 cities and towns While allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections, at least six states have enacted prohibition laws that restrict non-citizens from voting locally.

According to reports, even if cities allow foreigners to vote in local elections, such votes only make up a small fraction of the total votes.

In Vermont, only 86 non-citizens voted in March’s local elections, but 31 voted in San Francisco’s 2020 election, according to . Report from Stateline.

In Tacoma, Maryland, which has allowed non-citizens to vote for more than 30 years, the latest statistics show that about 20 percent of the 347 non-citizens who registered to vote in the recent election cast ballots.

But the Constitution leaves it up to the states to determine the time, place and manner of elections, and all laws except those in Washington, D.C., are beyond congressional review.