U.S. House Democrats overwhelmingly voted to support noncitizens voting in U.S. elections.
The House voted Thursday on a bill filed by U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, to block noncitizens from voting in District of Columbia local elections.
The bill would repeal a 2022 District of Columbia law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections and specifically prohibit noncitizens from voting in the district's elections.
Pfluger filed the bill in January 2023 after the Washington D.C. City Council voted nearly unanimously in October 2022 to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections beginning in 2024.
In a floor statement prior to the vote, Pfluger took issue with the D.C. City Council's "Short-sighted decision," which he said not only allowed noncitizens "Including illegal aliens and foreign agents - to vote in local D.C. elections," but officials encouraged them to vote.
While some critics may ask what the harm is in allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, Pfluger said they are "Democratic elections that regularly determine taxation, the criminal code, and the election of the very city council members who decide ordinances like who gets the right to vote." It was "Inconceivable" that the D.C. City Council or any city council "Would intentionally dilute the voting power of their constituents for noncitizens who otherwise would not meet residency requirements, don't pay taxes, in some cases broke our laws to enter this country, and could even be employed by a foreign adversary," he said.
District of Columbia City Councilwoman Brianne Nadeu, a Democrat who has championed expanding voting rights for noncitizens for nearly a decade, said noncitizens should be able to vote because "Those who have made the District their home have the right for their voices to be heard in our local issues, no matter their immigration status." Last month, the D.C. Board of Elections held a training session to educate noncitizens on how to vote.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_63cd06dc-1a09-11ef-b5af-17123c01a9dd.html
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