NY's highest court asked to weigh in on NYC’s noncitizen voting law

A 50-year-old civil rights law firm is asking the state’s highest court to overturn a lower court decision striking down New York City's noncitizen voting law and allow it to take effect a month after it was blocked.

Attorneys from the nonprofit LatinoJustice filed a notice of appeal on Friday after last month’s 3-to-1 ruling against Local Law 11. The law would apply to elections for local offices — including City Council, mayor, public advocate, comptroller and borough president — and would grant certain noncitizens in New York City, such as green card holders and those with work authorizations, the right to cast a ballot.

“This is a group that contributes financially to the success of the city. It’s a backbone of our culture and of our existence,” said Cesar Ruiz, associate counsel at LatinoJustice, referring to the city’s nearly one million legal immigrants who would be able to register as municipal voters under the law. “It was a blatant contradiction to us that they couldn’t vote.”

The drawn-out battle over the law runs in parallel with some of the thorniest and most controversial socioeconomic and policy challenges facing the city in recent years, where immigrant New Yorkers are repeatedly at the center of the debate, beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic and the more recent arrival of thousands of migrants.

The legislation gained momentum in 2021, passing the City Council at the same time immigrants deemed “essential workers” in jobs like healthcare and food services were on the front lines battling the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout.

One day after the law was enacted in early 2022, Republican lawmakers led by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent it from taking effect, arguing it was unconstitutional and diluted the votes of U.S. citizens. After a state Supreme Court in Staten Island ruled in Fossella’s favor, the City of New York appealed that decision.

Last month, the Appellate Court, Second Department's majority ruled that the law was unconstitutional, and said it should have been enacted through a ballot referendum as opposed to local legislation. As the city wages other fights over its legal obligation to shelter a new population of migrants in the city, legal experts have said asking voters to adopt a ballot initiative establishing noncitizen voting could put it on a challenging path forward.

It is unclear if the City plans to appeal the latest ruling.

Spokespeople for the mayor and City Council did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the city law department said there was no update from a month ago when city lawyers were evaluating their options.

Earlier this week, Politico New York reported that organizers of the Our City, Our Vote campaign, a broad coalition of immigrant, voting, labor and housing rights groups that supported the initial passage of Local Law 11, sent a letter to Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams urging the city to appeal last month’s ruling.

The deadline to file a notice of appeal is Monday.

Ruiz, the LatinoJustice attorney, said there is nothing that prevents his organization from pursuing an appeal on behalf of its clients with or without the city as their partner. From the second department it would go to the highest court, the New York State Court of Appeals.

“Procedurally, it won't have any impact on our ability to make the claims and make the arguments,” Ruiz said. “Cosmetically, some justices may look at us a little bit more skeptically saying, ‘Well, what place do voters have arguing about the rights of cities?’”

The organization joined the initial lawsuit as defendant interveners two years ago on behalf of nine individuals who would gain voting rights in local elections. Since then, one of the defendants has become a U.S. citizen, but they still represent eight potential voters.

Eva Santos Veloz, 34, is one of the individual defendants represented by LatinoJustice. She is a mother of three who has lived in the Bronx for 25 years since coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic as a child. She has been living legally in the United States since 2013 as a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Santos Veloz describes herself as a New Yorker, and she wants to have a say in the policies that affect her and her children.

“Our lives are here: we work, we pay taxes, and we take our children to school. We contribute a lot to the city and its culture, yet we don’t have a say in local matters,” said Santos Veloz. “We are taking this action to ensure that our communities' voices are heard.”