In a New York lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee, sanity won out when an appeals court ruled no non-U.S. Citizens can vote in our elections. If the absurd policy was allowed to continue, 900,000 people who are not citizens could have voted in municipal elections.

In a 43 page order, Associate Justice Paul Wooten from the Appellate Department for the Second Judicial Department of New York declared that “the Local Law was null and void because it violated the New York State Constitution as well as the Municipal Home Rule Law.”

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel stressed that “American elections must be decided by American Citizens – period.” In a statement released to Townhall. McDaniel said that the RNC had devoted considerable resources to stop Democrats from allowing non-citizens to vote. This massive court win in America’s largest city is a testament to our legal campaign for election integrity. The RNC will keep fighting to prevent non-citizens from voting in our elections, both in New York City as well as nationwide.

Wooten’s opinion cites Article II Section 1 of the New York State Constitution, which states that “Every citizen has the right to vote in every election of all officers elected by people, provided such citizen is at least 18 years old and has been a permanent resident of this State, as well as the county, the city or the village, for the thirty days immediately preceding the election.”

Wooten remarked that “the plain language of the provision” provides that the right for citizens to vote at ‘every election’ for officers chosen by the people is only available to them. There is no mention of noncitizens. Therefore, it is clear that noncitizens are not eligible to vote.

Wooten noted that Election Law SS 5-102-1 states, “[n]o one shall be eligible to register and vote in any election unless he’s a citizen of United States.” This applies to “all New York elections where voters may cast a ballot to elect an individual for any party position, or nominate or elect an individual for any federal, State, County, City, Town or Village office.”

Wooten concluded that “the New York State Election Law requires citizenship in the United States to be eligible to vote at a municipal election.” Wooten also noted that, contrary to the dissenting view, there was no “legislative history” which indicated an intention to give municipalities the authority to grant noncitizens the right to vote.

Under Chairwoman McDaniel, the RNC’s election integrity efforts have been significantly stepped up. In just one cycle (2024), they filed more than 75 lawsuits in 23 states. RNC challenges have been made to Arizona, Texas and Vermont policies that allow non-citizens to vote.

HUGE WIN FOR ELECTION INTERGRITY!

The New York appellate courts ruled that the @GOP lawsuit to prevent 900,000 citizens from voting in NYC election was successful.

Since 2022, the RNC has fought this battle. We will never stop fighting to prevent non-citizens voting!

RNC Election Integrity @RNCVoteProtect February 21, 2024