Should noncitizens be granted voting rights?

New York City became the largest city in the country to grant noncitizens voting rights when the City Council on Thursday approved a measure that would allow as many as 800,000 legal residents to vote in local elections.

Starting in January 2023, any New York resident with a green card or legal right to work in the city will be eligible to cast a ballot in races for mayor, city council and other citywide offices. They are still barred from voting in state or federal elections.

Noncitizen voting was widespread throughout the U.S. in the years after the nation’s founding, though voting rights were extended only to white, land-owning men at the time. Over time, the practice was gradually rolled back. By the mid-1920s, no state allowed noncitizens to vote. In 1996, Congress made it illegal for a noncitizen to vote in a federal election.