House Passes Bill To Keep Non-Citizens Out Of DC Elections

A coalition of Republicans and Democrats voted in favor of legislation to keep non-citizens out of local elections in Washington, D.C.

The House of Representatives Tuesday passed H.R. 884, a bill that would repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 and prohibit non-citizens from voting in local elections in a District of Columbia election. Lawmakers voted 266 to 148 in support of the legislation, with 56 Democrats crossing the aisle to back the Republican-led bill.

“Today, the House took action to defend that power and restore the sanctity of the voting process by passing my legislation to block noncitizens from voting in DC elections,” Texas GOP Rep. August Pfluger, the sponsor of the bill, said in a statement to the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Let me be clear: anyone who voted against my bill voted for the transfer of political power away from legal voters,” Pfluger continued.

H.R. 884 would specifically roll back the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, according to text of the legislation. The D.C. Council passed the local law, nearly unanimously, in October 2022, permitting green card holders and even illegal migrants the right to cast their ballots in local races beginning in 2024.

Republicans have long criticized the local ordinance, arguing it dilutes the voting power of American citizens when allowing non-citizens to participate in the election process. Roughly 90,000 migrants live in the District of Columbia,