Watershed moment in New York City: New law allows noncitizens to vote

More than 800,000 noncitizens and so-called "Dreamers'' in New York City will have access to the ballot box - and could vote in municipal elections as early as next year - after Mayor Eric Adams allowed legislation approved by the City Council a month ago to automatically become law on Sunday.
Opponents have vowed to challenge the new law. Unless a judge halts its implementation, New York City is now the most populous city in the United States to grant voting rights to noncitizens.
More than a dozen communities across the US already allow noncitizens to cast ballots in local elections, including 11 towns in Maryland and two in Vermont.

The Board of Elections must now begin drawing an implementation plan by July, including voter registration rules and provisions that would create separate ballots for municipal races to prevent noncitizens from casting ballots in federal and state contests. It's a watershed moment for a city where legally documented, voting-age noncitizens comprise nearly one in nine of the city's 7 million voting-age inhabitants. The movement to win voting rights for noncitizens prevailed after numerous setbacks.