Opinion | New York’s Noncitizen Voting Is Illegal

Well, that was quick work. In December the New York City Council passed a law to let about 800,000 noncitizens vote in local elections. Mayor Eric Adams, man of action, neither signed nor vetoed the bill, allowing it to take effect. But on Monday a state judge declared it “illegal, null and void because it violates the New York Constitution.”

This was always a distinct possibility, as we warned at the time. The state constitution guarantees “every citizen” the right to vote, “provided that such citizen” is 18 years old and has lived in New York for 30 days. Another constitutional section promises a process “for ascertaining, by proper proofs, the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage.”