On March 14, Council member Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) announced that he will reintroduce legislation for non-citizen voting rights in the City Council. He was optimistic that he had support from at least 33 other council members.
An estimated 120,000 non-citizen Chinese will be affected by this bill, which could give them the right to vote in mayoral, borough president, and City Council elections. The initiative to pass the bill is spearheaded by the New Immigrant Coalition Empowerment (NICE).
Anthony Ng, a member of the organizing alliance and the United Neighborhood Housing program, said that the alliance will actively talk to council members and ask for their support.
The initiative will have a far-reaching impact in the Chinese community. Of the more than 280,000 voting-age Chinese, about 126,000, or 45 percent, are not U.S. citizens. If these legal residents are granted voting rights, the Chinese community will be a major political force.
Take Chinatown for example. In the 2001 city council elections, Allen Gerson won with 122,209 votes, while his three Chinese opponents, Rocky Chen, Margaret Chan and Kwong Hui received a combined 100,328 votes.
According to the 2000 Census, District One – which encompasses Chinatown – has 308,437 adult non-U.S. citizens. The census also shows that a large percentage of the 400,000 new immigrants from China hold green cards or legal residency status.
According to the legislation advocated by the alliance and Council member Barron, anyone who has lived in New York City more than six months and has legal status, can vote for mayor, city comptroller, public advocate, borough president, and city council. Many Chinese students can benefit from this initiative.
Bill Perkins, former Deputy Majority Leader of the council, suggested a similar bill last April, but the bill failed to reach the full Council in time.
Barron said that he talked to Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Quinn said that she will look into the issue, but will not make a decision before some of her questions are answered.
