The Big Apple proposal, though, could resonate with other municipalities, inspiring them to follow suit -- and, if Congress approves an otherwise unrelated immigration overhaul, the number of newly eligible immigrant voters could swell into a potent voting bloc on the local level. That's because the national overhaul being considered in Washington creates a so-called pathway to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants. By itself, this does little in the near-term to give non-citizens the right to vote. But if New York City approves its plan to give its 800,000 legal immigrants a say in city politics, illegal immigrants could eventually join the voter rolls there as well. And they wouldn't have to wait for citizenship to vote.
The idea is a controversial step in a decades-long debate over who should have a say in how their cities are run. Already, four Massachusetts towns and a half-dozen cities in Maryland allow non-citizen immigrants to vote on a local level.
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