When mostly small liberal cities in Vermont, Maryland, and California began letting illegal immigrants vote in local elections, it looked like a political novelty worth watching by critics but not going to war over.
But when New York City this month cleared the way for 900,000 noncitizens to vote, the Republican National Committee saw something bigger: a national effort to let 12 million illegal immigrants vote.
“I think this is a part of a larger plan,” said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “I think this is a long-term plan for them to undermine the integrity of our elections.”
Teaming with local Republicans, the RNC this week filed suit against New York and newly installed Mayor Eric Adams to block the noncitizen voting law that would let illegal immigrants vote in local elections. It follows a similar suit in Vermont.
The liberal ballot initiatives favoring illegal immigrants come as Washington Democrats are pushing sweeping bills to ease voting integrity restrictions opposed by Republicans. While the local efforts do not change federal prohibitions on noncitizens voting, it raises problems of co-mingling ballots in elections when federal and local candidates are being picked, such as during presidential elections.
If Biden truly cared about election reform he’d go to New York, not Georgia.
NY’s elections are a disaster – they can’t count ballots, can’t report results, and now want non-citizens to vote.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) January 11, 2022
“I think from a practical standpoint, it’s very hard for Election Day workers in the heat of an election as [voters] stand in line to say, ‘This person gets a municipal ballot. This person gets a federal ballot.’ It creates a lot of muddied waters, a lot of room for problems,” McDaniel said.
“We all know once the ballot is removed from the envelope, you can never retrace whether that voter should have voted or been able to vote. So, this is a problem. It’s a degradation of the integrity of our elections,” she added.
McDaniel argued that the potential for fraud by noncitizens is so great that President Joe Biden should have given his voting reform speech in New York instead of Atlanta on Tuesday. “For years under Donald Trump, we heard Democrats talk about foreign interference in our elections. I can’t think of a greater interference in our elections and allowing close to 900,000 noncitizens vote in our elections,” she said.
While supporters argue that noncitizens deserve to vote since many are paying sales and other taxes, opponents said it goes against fundamental constitutionally approved benefits for citizens.
“Local politicians may try to sell noncitizen voting as being inclusive, but it only serves to disenfranchise the votes of American citizens. It also devalues U.S. citizenship and further incentivizes foreign nationals to live here illegally,” said Dale Wilcox, the executive director and general counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute.
And critics said it could help Democrats broaden their base with illegal votes. “Noncitizen voting is a shameless attempt to create permanent electoral majorities and ensure one-party rule,” Wilcox said.
That could lead to decadeslong political machines of Democrats trading votes for government benefits, warned Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. “This is part of a longer Democrat strategy to pander to immigrants and to benefit from loose immigration policies, hoping that these constituents will give them an edge or cement them in power,” she said.
“It’s part of their familiar ‘spoils system’ approach to governing, whereby their top priority is keeping themselves in power by using their power to bring home benefits for key constituencies, regardless of the interests of voters or the true needs of the citizens they represent. The more illegal aliens they have in these districts, the fewer actual voters and actual citizens they need to worry about serving, and the more they can concentrate on keeping power for themselves,” added Vaughan.
