Prohibiting Voting By Noncitizens in District of Columbia Elections

Floor Speech

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask the question: Why are the Democrats so obsessed with allowing noncitizens to vote in our election? Why do they go out of their way to dilute the voices of American citizens, the very American citizens who elected them to represent them?

It is incredibly frustrating to hear that they continue to double down or triple down on giving rights to people who are not citizens of this country at American taxpayers' and citizens' expense.

The lead debater on the other side of the aisle said that it is not just Washington, D.C., that is looking to allow noncitizens to vote in our elections. Mr. Speaker, 20 municipalities--and guess what? They are all run by Democrats.

In New York City, we had the same problem when the New York City Council passed legislation to allow noncitizens to vote in municipal elections. We had to sue to stop it, and we successfully did. It took not just one round in court, not just two rounds in court, but three rounds in court, where the city council and the mayor of New York used taxpayer money to continue to fight this each and every round despite being voted down in the New York State Supreme Court, the New York State Appellate Court, and, lastly, the New York Court of Appeals.

By the way, all were Democrat appointees on that panel of judges. We still won because it is illegal. It is not constitutional for noncitizens to vote in our elections.

Just like we fought this in New York City and prevailed, we will do the same here in Washington, D.C. We will make sure that they stop allowing and don't allow noncitizens to vote in their municipal elections because we are exercising our constitutional responsibility to protect our elections.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to continue to be strong and vote in support of this because we know that it passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support last year. Fifty-two Democrats sided with Republicans.

Those who continue to push for noncitizens to vote in our elections to dilute citizenship and dilute the voice of citizens in our elections should be ashamed of themselves. They should think about who actually elected them to represent their interests here today and why they continue to push to the contrary.

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