Should Noncitizen Residents Be Allowed To Vote In NY? [POLL]

NEW YORK — Noncitizen immigrants living in New York City will now be able to vote in local elections.

Mayor Bill de Blasio opposed the measure, but said he will not veto the bill. Several NYC Council members said the city would be overstepping its bounds legally.

The new law allows permanent residents as well as immigrants with the legal right to work in the United States to vote in municipal elections and on local ballot initiatives.

Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill, sponsored the bill.

He said the measure gives hundreds of thousands of green-card holding New Yorkers a voice and adequate representation in the city they call home and in which they pay taxes.

According to The New York Times, New York City is now the largest city in the United States that will allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. The law goes into effect a year from now.

Some Vermont and Maryland towns allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, and in San Francisco, noncitizens may vote in school board elections.

Now it's your turn to weigh in on the subject. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.