House votes to overturn D.C.’s illegal immigrant voting plan

A bipartisan House voted Thursday to block the District of Columbia’s plan to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, with lawmakers saying the city was crossing dangerous lines while trying to expand its pool of voters.

The District is the latest big city to try to grant voting rights to noncitizens, but its plan goes further than the others by allowing virtually anyone — including potentially Russian or Chinese diplomats — to vote in city affairs.

“These elections can set the laws that cover the White House, Congress and even government agencies. If we set this precedent, other cities will follow and faith in our elections will plummet,” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican.

The 260-162 vote to slap down the District’s proposal was bipartisan, with 42 Democrats joining Republicans.

So was a second vote minutes later to derail a rewrite of the District’s criminal laws, which would reduce maximum sentences for some major crimes. The House voted 250-173 to stop that legislation, with 31 Democrats linking arms with Republicans.

Among those Democrats was Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, who voted just hours after she was attacked in the elevator of her apartment building in the city.

“Rep. Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay,” her office said in a statement.

The congresswoman called 911, and the attacker fled.

“There is no evidence that the incident was politically motivated,” her office said.

The bills to halt the District’s voting and crime plans still need approval by the Senate and the signature of President Biden.

The White House has signaled opposition from Mr. Biden, who said Congress should butt out and let the city manage its own affairs.

Republicans said Congress generally takes a hands-off approach to the nation’s capital but needs to stop the city from veering too far into radical experiments.

“Congress does not act on D.C. legislation unless it is absolutely necessary,” said Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, which has jurisdiction over the District.

The voting rights bill would grant the ballot to those who have resided in the city for at least 30 days ahead of an election and who are not also registered in another state, territory or country. There is no requirement for a legal presence.

Noncitizens could cast ballots for the city’s mayor or school board but, in theory, not in federal elections.

Republicans doubted the District would be able to manage two sets of voting rolls and were concerned that noncitizens would vote in federal races too. Analysts said it will be hard to verify voter registration in another country.

That would open the door to granting ballots to foreign diplomats.

“This bill is an insult to the residents of D.C., particularly its Black voters, who struggled in the civil rights movement to achieve the ability to vote. Yet this bill will dilute the value of their votes by allowing foreigners to vote,” said Hans von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Election Commission and now a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

The Washington Times reached out for comment but did not hear back from D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau, a Democrat and the chief sponsor of the city’s legislation.

Giving noncitizens the right to vote has become a surprising and contentious battleground in recent years.

The practice was common in the 19th century but died out in the 20th century. Federal law now requires that only U.S. citizens vote in national races.

Several states, including Louisiana and Ohio, have adopted provisions barring noncitizen voting.

On the other side of the debate, Takoma Park in Maryland has been allowing noncitizen voting in local races for decades. Other small jurisdictions in Maryland have followed suit.

Bigger cities have become interested in noncitizen voting in recent years. San Francisco and Oakland, California, have adopted policies allowing noncitizen voting in school matters, and New York City attempted a noncitizen voting policy but has been blocked by a state court.

The jurisdictions that have conducted elections with noncitizen voters say interest from those populations has generally been low.

The District would represent the most expansive experiment yet, with an estimated 50,000 potential noncitizen voters casting ballots in all manner of local elections.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser didn’t support the voting plan. It cleared the city council and was submitted to Congress without her signature.

Ms. Bowser also opposed the crime bill, but the council overrode her veto.

That proposal would cut maximum sentences for serious crimes. The penalty for illegal possession of a gun would drop from 15 years to four years, Ms. Bowser said.

Supporters of the legislation say maximum sentences are rarely given and the proposed penalties align more closely with sentences that judges actually deliver. They also say the plan gives prosecutors more opportunity to stack charges together, so the potential penalty for any given incident might be higher.

That puts more power in the hands of prosecutors to decide how tough — or lenient — to be.

“You can’t call D.C. soft on crime,” said Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and the city’s nonvoting member of Congress.

On Capitol Hill, those nuances were lost in a more blunt debate. Republicans accused the city of engaging in dangerous social experiments, and Democrats said Republicans were picking on the heavily Democratic city for no good reason.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat whose home is just yards from the boundary with the District, pointed out that Bakersfield, in Mr. McCarthy’s California district, has a higher crime rate than the nation’s capital.

More broadly, he said, the seven states with the highest homicide rates supported President Trump in the 2020 election, but his biggest complaint centered on the unique situation that gives Congress the power to block D.C. legislation.

That stems from the city’s status as the federal district envisioned in the Constitution for the seat of the national government. It wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that D.C. residents gained the power to vote in presidential elections, and it wasn’t until the 1970s that the city had its own elected mayor.

Congress retains the power of review over legislation that clears the city council and can stop proposed legislation from becoming law through an affirmative vote.

Mr. Raskin said Congress should grant the District statehood, or at the very least butt out of its attempts at home rule for the crime and voting rights bills.