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Committee votes to prohibit noncitizen voting in D.C. local elections; Democrats call the measure paternalistic and attack timing
Summary
The Oversight Committee favorably reported HR 884, a bill to prohibit noncitizens from voting in District of Columbia local elections, amid partisan debate about home rule, history of noncitizen voting and DC funding. Recorded vote: 25-17.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to report HR 884, a bill to prohibit noncitizens from voting in District of Columbia local elections and to repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act.
Chairman Comer argued that the D.C. law allowing noncitizen local voting was a radical change that diluted the privilege of U.S. citizenship and cited Congress’s exclusive jurisdiction over the district under Article I of the Constitution. Representative Pfluger’s bill was described as restoring “common sense protections.”
Opponents, including Representative Eleanor Norton and Ranking Member Lynch, called the bill undemocratic and paternalistic, and they argued Congress should not legislate local D.C. matters. Norton and Lynch noted historical instances of noncitizen voting in U.S. jurisdictions and said the real issue is that D.C. lacks voting representation in Congress. Democrats also linked the markup to a separate budget dispute: they cited a $1 billion cut to D.C.’s local budget in the House continuing resolution and urged passage of a separate District of Columbia Local Funds Act that the Senate had sent to the House nine weeks earlier.
The committee adopted a substitute amendment and ordered the bill favorably reported. The clerk reported the recorded vote: ayes 25, nays 17. Members entered letters for the record from the Council of the District of Columbia and others opposing the measure.
