Expand Democracy: Reinstate Voting Rights for all New Yorkers

According to the 2000 U.S Census, NYC is home to 1.3 million adults who can not vote because they are not yet U.S. citizens.  That is about twenty percent of all New Yorkers, but in Bushwick, it is closer to one quarter of the adult population.  Can any democracy work when a large part of the population is excluded?  

All of our neighborhoods suffer because our immigrant neighbors can’t help us hold our elected officials accountable.  Couldn’t we be more effective if one million additional voices were demanding better public education, more affordable housing, and safer streets?   

Immigrant New Yorkers pay more than $18.2 billion annually in New York State income taxes, but they have no say in how that tax money is spent.  That is taxation without representation!

For the majority of U.S. history, the right to vote belonged to white men who owned property.  When those in charge felt threatened, they enacted several measures: literacy tests, poll taxes, and the end of immigrant suffrage.   

Far from being a substitute for citizenship, allowing the newest New Yorkers to vote in local elections is the best way to promote civic education and participation. Many immigrants want to become citizens, but the backlogs and failures in the citizenship process often mean wait times of more than 10 years.  

Six cities in Maryland, as well as the entire European Union, recognize the importance of full democratic participation and allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.  Here in NYC, immigrant parents were allowed to vote in school board elections until those elections were ended in 2003.

Make The Road By Walking has joined the New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights, a coalition of 65 organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, in fighting for the restoration of municipal voting rights for documented non-citizens.  Together, these groups are working with City Council Members on the Voting Rights Restoration Act (Intro. 245-2006).  The measure currently has 15 co-sponsors and supporters are confident that it will move forward during this legislative session.  

To help with this important effort, please call your City Council Member and encourage them to support Intro. 245-2006. Or contact the NY Coalition to Expand Voting Rights at 718-205-8796 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 This information refers to pending legislation.  If you are not a U.S. citizen you cannot currently register to vote – it is a deportable offense.