nothin Guv Doesn’t Support Immigrant Voting Plan | New Haven Independent

Guv Doesn’t Support Immigrant Voting Plan

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy weighed in Wednesday against an effort by New Haven Mayor John DeStefano to get state permission to allow non-citizen residents to vote in city elections.

Read about the idea here.

Malloy was asked for his reaction at a Capitol press conference Wednesday morning. Here’s what he said:

I read that on the Independent today. You know it’s not an idea I’m particularly comfortable with. I think there are obligations that run with citizenship and there are privileges that run with citizenship .… It’s not something I’m inclined to support. On the other hand I’m certainly more than willing to hear the mayor out on it.”

Nationally, a movement to grant non-citizen immigrants local voting rights has sprung up in close to two dozen states,” according to Michele Wucker, president of the World Policy Institute and author of Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right.

The idea is that when you live in a city, you are essentially a citizen of that city, which is separate form federal or national citizenship,” Wucker said Tuesday. The logic is that everybody is better off when everyone on their block and in their town has a stake in staying on top of issues and working together and to get safe and clean streets, good schools, reliable transportation, and good health care.

The other part of the argument is that from the beginning of U.S. history until the 1920s, non-citizen voting was very common, at one point in 44 states and territories, at various levels. The movement now is for local elections. In most cases, with the exceptions of school boards, it’s for people who have their papers, who are legal. This is not illegal immigrants voting for president.”

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