In a win for election integrity, the House of Representatives voted to overturn a D.C. law that would give noncitizens a right to vote in municipal elections Thursday.
“I applaud the House for acting to ensure that foreign spies and illegal immigrants are not voting in the nation’s capital,” Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action (HEPA), said in a statement regarding the vote. “Thanks to a Constitutional right and since the District is not a state, the House acted as it should have and has moved to stop this extreme and antidemocratic measure.”
According to the Constitution, Congress has the ability to block laws passed in the District. The GOP-led House voted 260-173 to overturn the new law, with 42 Democrats joining Republicans. For the law to be overturned, it must also be voted against in the Democratic-led Senate and signed by the President. While President Biden has said he opposes the law, he has not stated whether or not he will veto it.
The D.C. Council passed D.C. Bill 24.300 last year, which lowered the qualifications for voting in D.C.’s municipal elections to just one month of residency in the District, discarding the previous U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status requirement. The law goes into effect starting in 2024.
The Washington Post estimates the new law would allow 50,000 noncitizen residents to cast ballots in D.C., including 21,000 illegal residents. Even foreign nationals who pledge allegiance to another country — such as Russian and
