Thread: THE NEW YORK COALITION TO EXPAND VOTING RIGHTS

http://www.immigrantvoting.org/index.html

This blows my mind.




THE NEW YORK COALITION
TO EXPAND VOTING RIGHTS

The New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights held a rally and press conference on the steps of the main U.S. Post Office on Eighth Avenue and 33d Street on Tax Day, April 15, to draw attention to the one in five adult New Yorkers who are immigrants who pay taxes but have no say in how their money is used. Click HERE for photos. The event was to help educate the public about legislation that Councilmember Bill Perkins plans to introduce in the New York City Council to grant voting rights in City elections to noncitizen immigrants residing legally here for at least six months.

From 1970 until school boards were disbanded recently, non-citizen immigrants voted in New York City school board elections. In the Fall of 2003, a group of New Yorkers began meeting to discuss what it would take to make noncitizen voting a reality. Early in 2004, this group became the New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights. Coalition members have been meeting with New York City community groups, leaders and legislators about the new initiative. READ MORE

UPDATES:
RAISED VOICES FROM NEW YORKERS

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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
IN IMMIGRANT VOTING RIGHTS

Efforts to reinstate voting rights for noncitizen residents have kicked into high gear for 2005. Recently, legislation was re-introduced in Massachusetts, where several local communities are seeking home rule authorization from the state legislature and Minnesota, a state with a long history of nonresident voting rights which seeks to amend the state constitution to restore those rights (along with voting rights for ex-offenders). New York City expects to introduce legislation soon.

Other contemporary efforts include California (where San Francisco's November 2004 ballot included Proposition F to allow all residents to vote in school board elections), Connecticut, Illinois (which has allowed noncitizen voting in school board elections since 199, Maine, Maryland (where six communities allow noncitizen voting and additional campaigns are underway), North Carolina, Texas, Washington DC (where a bill was introduced to City Council in July 2003 to allow legal permanent residents to vote), and Wisconsin.

(updated March 1, 2005)


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IMMIGRANT VOTING RIGHTS
THROUGHOUT AMERICAN HISTORY

The dozen-plus communities around the United States that have mounted noncitizen voting rights initiatives since the late 1980s, have revived an all-but-forgotten chapter of our history. The Immigrant Voting Project and New York University Law Students for Human Rights have compiled histories of immigrant voting in each of the 50 states. Over the next several weeks, we will post these histories. Check back frequently for additional states or contact us if you are looking for information on your own state and have not yet seen it posted.

HISTORIES
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN CONNECTICUT HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN ILLINOIS HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN MAINE HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN MARYLAND HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN MASSACHUSETTS HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN MINNESOTA HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN NEW YORK HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN VERMONT HISTORY IMMIGRANT VOTING IN VIRGINIA HISTORY
IMMIGRANT VOTING IN WISCONSIN HISTORY

to visit HISTORIES go to link at top of page.

I always thought you had to be a citizen to vote.
This country is sliding.

This is more insanity.

W

they wanted to do this here in San Francisco last year but supposedly limit it to only schoolboard issues.Our citizenship is losing it's value.The more we concede and comfort non citizens the less likely they'll bother with going the legitimate route for citizenship.