Struck-down New York law allowing non-citizens to vote misrepresented online | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Immigrants in the US illegally can vote in New York

A Dec. 18, 2023, Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows Rep. Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma asking a group of seated men whether immigrants in the U.S. illegally can vote in New York. A man off-screen says he believes a law was passed in New York City allowing such immigrants to vote.

"Illegal immigrants now have the right to vote in New York," reads on-screen text at the beginning of the video.

The post garnered more than 40,000 likes in five weeks. Similar versions of the claim were shared on Facebook.

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Our rating: False

Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in New York. The man in the video misrepresented a 2021 law that would have allowed legal non-citizens to vote but was struck down by a state Supreme Court judge before going into effect.

Only US citizens can vote in New York

The clip was taken from a Dec. 5, 2023, Homeland Security Committee hearing, during which Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman misrepresented a law passed in New York in 2021.

The law, which was scheduled to go into effect Jan. 9, 2023, would have granted more than 800,000 legal noncitizens the right to vote in municipal elections, according to The New York Times. The law only applied to legal residents, including those with green cards and those brought to the country illegally as children but allowed to remain under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The law wouldn't have applied to those who immigrated to the country illegally.

Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections, told USA TODAY the claim is false.

"New York State only allows citizens who are at least 18 years old and residents of New York State to register and vote," McGrath said in her email.

McGrath pointed out that the law was struck down by a New York State Supreme Court judge in June 2022 before it could go into effect. The judge said the law violated the state's constitution.

Mara Suttmann-Lea, an assistant professor of government at Connecticut College, told USA TODAY that even before the judge decided to strike it down, the law wouldn't have allowed those who immigrated to the country illegally to vote in New York.

"Undocumented immigrants have no documentation," Suttmann-Lea said in an email. "Legal immigrants have paperwork with the (Department of Homeland Security) and (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) that they are legally in the U.S., hold employment and pay taxes. Many are on the path to U.S. citizenship. The allowance for voting of legal residents who are non-citizens (legal immigrants) in local elections does not include undocumented immigrants."

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As Suttmann-Lea said, some cities, such as San Francisco, passed laws allowing non-citizens to vote in certain local elections. Regardless, only U.S. citizens are permitted to vote in federal, state and the vast majority of local elections.

USA TODAY reached out to Blakeman's office and the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, 'illegal immigrants' can't vote in New York | Fact check

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