GOP sues to stop noncitizen voting in Vermont’s largest city

The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit Thursday in Vermont challenging Burlington’s policy of allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections dealing with education.

RNC officials joined with residents in the lawsuit, saying it’s an attempt to push back against a growing tide of jurisdictions allowing noncitizens — including, in some cases, immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally — to cast ballots.

“Americans should decide American elections,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley.

Burlington’s policy only allows voting in local elections and ballot questions, but the RNC’s lawsuit says that includes the education budget, which implicates how state money is spent.

That, the RNC says, means noncitizen voting violates the state’s constitution, which says only citizens can vote on “any matter that concerns the State of Vermont.”

Burlington, the largest city in Vermont, is the third jurisdiction in the state to adopt noncitizen voting.

Two smaller cities, Winooski and the state capital of Montpelier, have allowed noncitizen voting for several years.

The state’s Supreme Court has already upheld those policies as valid, rejecting the argument that all local elections now implicate state matters.

“There is still a difference between municipal government and state government,” the state justices concluded.

The new lawsuit against Burlington covers much of the same ground.

The RNC and the residents focused their arguments specifically on noncitizens voting on Burlington’s education budget. Because state money is at stake, they say, that means noncitizens are weighing in on state matters.

They said that dilutes the votes of citizens.

Noncitizen voting has become a deep dividing line in U.S. politics.

The practice is illegal in federal elections, and no state currently allows it for statewide elections, though Washington, D.C. — a federal district that is often compared to a state — does allow it for all district matters.

Washington’s policy is vast, allowing anyone who’s lived in the city for at least 30 days — including immigrants without documentation and employees of foreign governments — to register and cast ballots.

The District says it has the tools to make sure those noncitizens only vote in local affairs and don’t cast ballots in federal elections.

San Francisco allows noncitizens with children in the school system to vote on school matters.

New York City attempted to allow noncitizen voting in local elections, but a state court ruled that illegal.

Proponents of noncitizen voting, particularly at the local level, say residents pay taxes and use services regardless of citizenship or even legal status. That demands a say in how those taxes are set and how those services are delivered.

Opponents say the practice cheapens the value of citizenship.

In the early days of the republic, citizenship and voting were less explicitly linked. Indeed, many states allowed noncitizens to vote, as long as they met other requirements such as race, sex or property ownership.

That changed over the latter part of the 19th century, and noncitizen voting was erased as a practice early in the 20th century.

While the legal battles focus on noncitizens’ ability to vote in local contests, former President Donald Trump has complained that noncitizens are also casting ballots — illegally — in federal elections.