Norton Condemns Bill Prohibiting Noncitizens From Voting in Local D.c. Elections

Press Release

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today condemned a bill introduced by Representative August Pfluger (R-TX) that would prohibit District of Columbia residents who are not citizens from voting in local D.C. elections. Last week, the D.C. Council passed a bill that would allow D.C. residents who are not citizens to vote in local elections by a vote of 12-1. The Council must vote on the bill a second time.

"D.C. laws are matters for the duly elected D.C. Council and mayor, not unaccountable members of Congress," Norton said. "I will defeat this anti-home-rule bill, like I have defeated every other anti-home-rule bill introduced this Congress."

The Pfluger bill is the second bill introduced this Congress that would interfere in D.C.'s local election laws. Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL) introduced the American Confidence in Elections: District of Columbia Election Integrity and Voter Confidence Act, which would, among other things, require photo identification or Social Security number to vote, require photos in poll books, prohibit same-day registration, prohibit automatically mailing ballots to voters, require ballot drop boxes to be located within a D.C. government building and monitored through 24-hour remote or electronic surveillance, require the removal of names from voting rolls, prohibit, with limited exceptions, a person from collecting a mail ballot completed by another person, require mail ballots to be received by the close of the polls, require election results to be announced by 10 a.m. the day after the election, prohibit non-citizens from voting, give partisan poll watchers virtually unfettered access to polling sites and permit them to challenge ballots and tabulations, and allow the public to observe the testing of election equipment.

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