New York

Immigrant Voting Rights Campaigns

Advocates formed the Coalition to Expand Voting Rights in 2004 and helped advance a legislative bill in 2005, 2009, 2013.

In 2021, the legislation was enacted by the City Council, powered by the Our City Our Vote Coalition, which allows immigrants legally residing in the U.S. to vote in all municipal elections. However, the law was challenged and blocked by a lower court, and was struck down by an appellate court, pending a possible appeal by the city.

Research about Immigrant Voting in New York City Community School Board Elections, 1969-2002

Research shows that immigrants voted on par with citizens in some cases, contributing to electoral and policy outcomes.

During the 1980s the city’s 32 Community School Boards, which had the power to hire superintendents and principals and allocate funding, many school districts were characterized by over crowed schools, out of date books, lack of language access and cultural competency, crumbling facilities, few after school programs — all combining to produce poor outcomes for students and families.

In response, immigrants mobilized in some districts to address these conditions. For example, in Washington Heights, a predominantly Dominican section of northern Manhattan, a vibrant voter registration drive in 1986 brought in 10,000 new parent voters—most of them immigrants—who turned out in record numbers. This political mobilization led to the election of immigrants representatives to the local school board, including the first Dominican ever elected in the U.S., Guillermo Linares, who became the president of the school board. (Linares became a City Councilmember, head of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, New York State Assemblyman, and now serves on the NY Higher Education Services Corp.)

These developments, in turn, contributed to improvements in the schools and helped reshape community politics. As a result of this mobilization the city devoted more funds to improve and build new schools in Washington Heights.

In the end, it was not only Dominicans that benefited. All community residents -- including Irish, Italian, Jewish, Puerto Rican and Black families who lived in Washington Heights -- benefited from improved education opportunities. Moreover, it was not just residents in Washington Heights who benefited: similar voter mobilization efforts in other districts yielded increased school budgets and new schools, producing improvements in student and family outcomes.

Although these patterns were not evident in all 32 school boards, data shows during the 1990s parent voters comprised between 15% and 41% of all votes cast in school board elections, producing the most racially and ethnically diverse bodies in New York City.

Importantly, these examples were not isolated to districts in New York City; similar positive results are also evident in other cities where immigrants have voted, such as in Chicago and Maryland.

Voter Education and Outreach

NYC’s Community School Board Elections were jointly administered by the NYC Board of Education and the NYC Board of Elections. The NYC Board of Education notified all parents of their eligibility to vote and provided voter registration forms to every parent. The Board of Elections printed ballots, trained and staffed poll sites and administered the elections.

New York City’s 2021 legislation (Intro 1867), which was crafted in consultation with immigrant organizations, grants voting rights to Legal Permanent Residents and people with work visas. It does not enfranchise the undocumented.

NYC’ elections take place in separate years from state or federal elections, which helps insulate immigrant voters from mistakenly voting in a state or federal election. Municipalities in Maryland also take place in “off” years (i.e., non-state and federal election years). The bill directs the NYC Board of Elections to create a new "municipal voter registration form" and keep list of those registered for municipal elections (designated “M”).

These voters will not appear on voter registration lists for state and federal elections. If and when an immigrant naturalizes AND registers to vote for state and federal elections, their municipal registration would become invalid.

Administrative Features of Immigrant Voting Measures

Voter participation in New York City’s Community School Board Elections ranged from a high of 14 percent of the total eligible voters (i.e., registered voters) in 1970 (or 427,110 voters out of 2,971,707 registrants), which was the first school board election year; to a low of 3.3 percent in 1999 (or 112,610 voters out of 3,342,168 total registrants), the last year when school board elections were held. Turnout hovered at about 10 percent in seven out of the ten elections held, mostly in the first decade and a half. Voter turnout was only 5.3 percent in 1996 and 3.3 percent in 1999 but it was 15 percent in 1993.

The 1993 elections were characterized by sharp debate about the introduction of a Rainbow Curriculum, which garnering media attention and mobilization, and in addition, then Mayor David Dinkins made $600,000 available to the New York City Voter Assistance Commission, a nonpartisan charter agency mandated to facilitate voter participation of underrepresented groups, to send a notification to all registered voters notifying them of their eligibility to vote, the location of their polling place, and the times the polls were open, and encouraging them to vote in the community school board elections. This was unprecedented and contributed to the spike in turnout in 1993. By contrast, in 1996 and 1999, no voter notification or guides were mailed or distributed, and media coverage was virtually nonexistent. Voter turnout also ranged widely among school districts.