GOP senators try to block DC law letting non-citizens vote in local elections

WASHINGTON (TND) — Republicans Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have introduced a bill alongside House Republicans seeking to reject a Washington, D.C. law allowing non-citizens, including members of the Chinese Communist Party residing in the nation's capital, to vote in local elections.

The D.C. Council has been progressing its "Local Resident Voting Rights Act" since its introduction in 2021, and the local body eventually passed it in October 2022. The following month, the new local voting law was enacted without Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser's signature and is tentatively scheduled to take effect in early March.

READ MORE: "DC lawmakers advance bill allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections"

The new law, like any D.C. legislation, still must undergo congressional review before its start date.

The GOP-led House Oversight Committee has already passed a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 24) disapproving the Local Resident Voting Rights Act, and Sens. Britt's and Cotton's Senateversion piggybacks on that resolution.

Both would need the president's approval to block the local law, but the Biden administration has already formally expressed its disapproval of the House's resolution.

"For far too long, the more than 700,000 residents of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded," a Statement of Administration Policy from the White House said.

The policy statement added that H.J. Res. 24 was a clear example "of how the District of Columbia continues to be denied true self-governance and why it deserves statehood."

Despite the president's disapproval of the House's joint resolution rejecting the D.C. bill, he has not indicated whether he would veto it.

"Washington, D.C., and every Democrat-run municipality that wants to allow those who entered our country illegally to vote in local elections, is diluting the value of American citizenship, effectively disenfranchising hardworking American citizens, insulting those American citizens who came to our country legally and took the time and effort to go through the citizenship process, and undermining faith in our entire electoral system – which is a cornerstone of our nation that we cannot allow to crumble," Britt told The National Desk (TND) in a statement. "Not only does this open the door to foreign adversaries legally exerting direct influence on elections in our nation’s capital, but it also incentivizes illegal immigration at a time when our country is already facing an unprecedented humanitarian and national security crisis at the southern border."

Nearby Rockville, Md. is currently considering a measure that would give non-citizens the right to vote in local elections.

“Non-citizens live here, work here, pay taxes here, raise families here, start businesses here, and send their kids to school here. The safety and prosperity of our city and community affects every resident regardless of your immigration status,” Sandy Chan, a Rockville resident, told 7News DC.

The push to grant voting rights to non-citizens extends beyond the nation's capital. In Rhode Island, Democratic state lawmakers are pushing a bill to giveundocumented immigrants "limited" voting rights, according to NBC10