House passes bill to ban non-citizens from voting in DC local elections

The House on Thursday passed a bill that seeks to ban non-U.S. citizens from voting in Washington, D.C. local elections, once again targeting the capital through legislation.

The four-page measure, approved 262-143, would prohibit any noncitizen from voting in elections for municipal office or on ballot initiatives and referenda. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in any federal election.

The D.C. Council approved a measure in 2022 that added eligible non-citizen residents to the definition of a qualified voter for local elections. Seven D.C. voters filed suit against the city’s Board of Elections, but a federal court upheld the law in March, dismissing the suit after a judge ruled that the plaintiffs could not prove they were harmed by the policy.

Republicans this week attacked the local law, arguing that noncitizens should not be allowed to influence leadership in the nation’s capital.

“The city council has decided it wants non-citizens and foreign actors to decide who will serve as mayor and local attorney general here. As the body responsible for oversight of D.C., Congress will not support such illegal behavior,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said during a press conference Wednesday.

Democrats, led by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, criticized the GOP-led bill, calling it “antidemocratic” and “paternalistic.”

“DC residents, the majority of whom are Black and brown, are worthy and capable of self-government,” Norton added in comments on the House floor. “I urge members to vote no.”

The now-defunct outlet DCist reported earlier this year that just 32 noncitizens registered to vote in D.C. local elections.

Republicans and some Democrats previously expressed their disapproval of the D.C. council law in February — 42 Democrats joined all Republicans in supporting a resolution criticizing the local statute.

And the effort to overturn the D.C. bill follows another piece of GOP legislation to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections — despite the law already on the books prohibiting it in federal elections.

Just16 cities and townsallow noncitizens to vote in local elections, while at least six states have enacted bans that limit localities from allowing them to vote.

Reports indicate that even when cities allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, those votes represent only a fraction of the totals.

Just 86 noncitizens voted in local elections in March in Vermont, while 31 voted in the 2020 elections in San Francisco, according to Stateline report.

In Takoma, Maryland, which has allowed noncitizens to vote for more than 30 years, the most recent numbers show that about 20 percent of the 347 noncitizens who registered to vote in the last election voted.

But the Constitution leaves it to the states to set the time, place and manner of elections – making all laws except D.C. beyond the reach of Congressional review.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story