1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:04,440 Speaker 1: I think the access to a valid is something very 2 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: important to a lot of community members, to a lot 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: of people, and I think sometimes the people who are 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: able to vote sometimes take that for granted and they 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:22,479 Speaker 1: don't vote. That to me, is their denying their rights 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: when other people wish they had those rights. 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 2: From Futuro media, it's Latino USA. I'm Maria in no Josa. Today, 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 2: New York City has a chance to become a national 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:47,919 Speaker 2: model by offering voting rights to non citizens. We are 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 2: all witnessing our country undergoing a contradictory era in terms 11 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 2: of voting rights. Despite a devastating pandemic, turnout in the 12 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 2: twenty twenty election was the highest we've seen in more 13 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 2: than a century. The results of that vote, though, have 14 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 2: been doubted, denied and remained subject to drawn out controversy 15 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 2: and auditing, even though there's no evidence of fraud around here. 16 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 3: It's suburbia, so you have that split vote, people feeling 17 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 3: disenfranchised one way or the other. 18 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 4: So this comes as Attorney General William Barr issues a 19 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 4: new memo paving the way for prosecutors to investigate claims 20 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 4: of voter fraud, even though none have been substantiated. Hey, 21 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,919 Speaker 4: Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are also supporting 22 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 4: the president's refusal to concede. 23 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 3: I believe that Donald Trump won the election. 24 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:44,759 Speaker 5: I believe that they tried to steal the election. 25 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 2: On January sixth thousands of people, either claiming fraud or 26 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 2: simply desperate for a different result, stormed the Capitol Building, 27 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 2: looting offices, waiving the Confederate flag, and crying for politicians' 28 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 2: heads to roll. In the months following that, hair brained 29 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 2: and deadly insurrection, revolts against the vote and seemingly against 30 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 2: democracy itself have not disappeared. They've just taken a quieter 31 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 2: form in what's amounting to a concerted effort to block 32 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 2: the vote, especially of underrepresented groups. Republican led state legislators 33 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,799 Speaker 2: have proposed and enacted laws to severely restrict voting access. 34 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 6: Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp has signed a sweeping elections 35 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 6: bill that civil rights groups are blasting as the worst 36 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 6: voter suppression legislation since the Jim Crow era. 37 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 5: There's a number of items here that have voting rights 38 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 5: groups very concerned. Let's start with mail in ballots and 39 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,519 Speaker 5: boxes there's restrictions on when people can actually access those boxes. 40 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:58,679 Speaker 5: Now it's only going to be early voting hours, and 41 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 5: there has to be a person physically standing over the 42 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,239 Speaker 5: box when someone drops off their ballot. And if those 43 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 5: conditions are not met, Stephanie, you could be looking at 44 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 5: a civil penalty of twenty five thousand dollars. 45 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 7: We asking my Republican friends in Congress and states and 46 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 7: cities and counties to stand up for God's sake and 47 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 7: help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our election and 48 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 7: a sacred right to vote. 49 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 8: Have your no shame. 50 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 2: The moves limit how, where and when people can cast 51 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 2: a ballot. Overall, nearly four hundred voter suppression bills have 52 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 2: been proposed in forty eight states this year. All are 53 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 2: part of a tide of anti voting bills that first 54 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 2: term Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock has called Jim Crow twenty 55 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 2: twenty one. It's a reference to the often violent codes 56 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 2: instituted after the Civil War that persecuted black people and 57 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 2: target potential voters. 58 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 9: We may be tempted to dissect these bills as if 59 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 9: analyzing them piece by piece makes them more rational, But 60 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 9: that narrow analysis only obscures the larger, unmistakable picture. This 61 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 9: is a full fledged assault on voting rights, unlike anything 62 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 9: we have seen since the era of gem quote. 63 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:29,359 Speaker 2: Twenty two of those bills have already become law. Meanwhile, 64 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 2: New York, the largest city in the United States, is 65 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 2: taking the right to vote a step further, seeking to 66 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:42,679 Speaker 2: extend the franchise to non citizens. If passed, the bill 67 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,359 Speaker 2: called Our City, Our Vote would allow non citizens with 68 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 2: work authorization, people with Green cards, data, or temporary protected 69 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 2: status to vote in all municipal elections. We will also 70 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 2: open the gate for the largest edition of eligible voters 71 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 2: in fifty years. Producer John Washington in New York City 72 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 2: brings us the story. 73 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 10: Amid voter suppression bills proposed in almost every single state, 74 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 10: there are also efforts to move in the opposite direction. 75 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 10: Two federal bills, for the People Act and the John 76 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 10: Lewis Voting Rights Act, both seek to nationalized voter registration 77 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 10: and mail in voting standards, as well as reinstitute protections 78 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,359 Speaker 10: from the nineteen sixty five Voting Rights Act. But with 79 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 10: Congress at loggerheads, passage of the bills is unlikely. New 80 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 10: York's Our City our Vote bill meanwhile, could add nearly 81 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 10: one million registered voters to the city. The move would 82 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 10: be the largest expansion of the franchise since nineteen seventy one, 83 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,039 Speaker 10: a half century ago, when the twenty sixth Amendment lowered 84 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,919 Speaker 10: the voting age from twenty one to eighteen. All of 85 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 10: this raises some basic questions about democracy. Who are counted 86 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 10: as the people when the people supposedly rule? What happens 87 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 10: to a government of and for the people when millions 88 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 10: are left out of key decisions. What about the rallying 89 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 10: cry of the American Revolution, no taxation without representation, when 90 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 10: so many in this country are taxed and have zero 91 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 10: say in who represents them. I recently spoke with some 92 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 10: of the advocates for the New York City Bill and 93 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 10: people who could become eligible to vote about what casting 94 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 10: the ballot means to them. I also delved into the 95 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 10: history of non citizen voting in this country. What I 96 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 10: found might surprise you. Lucia Aguilrare, whose voice you heard 97 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 10: at the beginning of this story, has been living in 98 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 10: New York City since she was three years old. She 99 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 10: works at a nonprofit in East Harlem, where for the 100 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 10: last sixteen years, She's helped manage a community food bank. 101 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 10: She has a Green card, is deeply involved in local politics, 102 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 10: but still has years to wait until she can apply 103 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 10: for citizenship and pull the lever on voting day. 104 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: You know, growing up here, going to school, you learn 105 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: about the democratic system, and I believe in it and 106 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: that we all have a say when we vote. 107 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 10: But that is exactly what Aguila doesn't have. She's a 108 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 10: New Yorker through and through, but simply doesn't have the 109 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 10: same say in the direction of our city as many 110 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 10: of her neighbors. 111 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: I wasn't born in the United States, but you know, 112 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: I'm a New Yorker at heart, and I wish I 113 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 1: could participate in these events. You know, I'm dying. I 114 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: have like a countdown to when I could submit my 115 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: citizen and applications so I could, you know, finally get 116 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: to vote. 117 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 10: Immigrants can obtain legal residency through just a handful of channels. 118 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 10: Some are granted hard to get asylum or refugee status, 119 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 10: which the government has been over recent years increasingly miserly 120 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 10: and bestowing. Others are sponsored by their employer or marry 121 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 10: a US citizen, and very few are lucky enough to 122 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 10: win the Green Card Lottery, a federal program that benefits 123 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 10: fifty thousand foreign citizens every year. All have to wait 124 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 10: at least five years before they can apply to become 125 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 10: a US citizen. In the case of Lucia, that won't 126 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 10: happen until twenty twenty five. 127 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: A lot of people who know me, they acts, so, 128 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: who did you vote for or who are you voting for? 129 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: And I can't vote? And you know, it's sometimes I 130 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: feel ashamed not to be able to tell them, Oh, 131 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: I can't vote. It's it's just sad that, yes, like 132 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: we are sharing this community, but I don't have a 133 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: say in it. 134 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 10: The bill Our City Are Vote is said to give 135 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 10: people like Lucia that say. The New York Immigration Coalition 136 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 10: is one of over sixty organizational backers of the bill. 137 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 10: Paul Westrich, their senior manager of Democracy Policy, explain to 138 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:51,079 Speaker 10: me why they're pushing for the proposal. 139 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 11: While we live in a democracy, we have, as I said, 140 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 11: one million New Yorkers who can't vote in their local 141 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 11: elections for mayor, for city council, for the folks who 142 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 11: are making policy and budget decisions that affect their lives 143 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 11: on a day to day basis. So these are residents 144 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 11: of our city who live here, work here, go to 145 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 11: school here. They are raising families here, they are paying 146 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 11: taxes here, and they deserve to have a say in 147 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 11: the direction of our city. Non citizens represent well over 148 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 11: a million New York residents. They come from all over 149 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 11: the world, with the largest foreign born populations belonging to 150 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 11: the Dominican Republic, China, and Mexico. According to the most 151 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,679 Speaker 11: recent statistics, immigrant New Yorkers, both naturalized citizens and non citizens, 152 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 11: pay for ten billion dollars of taxes a year. Non 153 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 11: citizens contribute nearly three billion into that total. New Yorkers 154 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 11: used to be able to vote in school board elections, 155 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 11: but after years of mismanagement and complaints, school boards were 156 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,959 Speaker 11: eliminated in the city in two thousand and two. Their 157 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:56,960 Speaker 11: control handed it over to the mayor and an appointed board. Currently, 158 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 11: New York also runs participatory budgeting, which allows all residents 159 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 11: to vote on the allocation of some municipal discretionary funds. 160 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,959 Speaker 11: But as Paul says, there is nothing that replaces the 161 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 11: right to vote for your elected officials, your elected leadership. 162 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 11: There is no substitute accountability, nothing that will substitute for 163 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 11: the right to vote. 164 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 10: The bill comes at a critical time, especially over the 165 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 10: past year. The city's debt two and reliance on immigrant 166 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 10: workers has been profoundly painfully underscored as the pandemic grip 167 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 10: New York in twenty twenty. Immigrant workers were critical in 168 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 10: holding the city together, keeping New Yorkers fed, caring for 169 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 10: the sick, and keeping the city itself alive. And yet 170 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 10: they also suffered the worst of the pandemic. 171 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 11: Half of our frontline essential workers are immigrants. One in 172 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,080 Speaker 11: five of those essential workers is a non citizen New Yorker. 173 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 11: These are our nurses and medical professionals. These are are 174 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 11: the folks who have been preparing and delivering our food, 175 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 11: keeping our buildings clean, keeping our grocery and pharmacy shelves stocks. 176 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 11: So this is a population of folks that we have 177 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 11: classified as essential to our city. New York City cannot 178 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 11: run without them. So how can we ask these New 179 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 11: Yorkers to quite literally risk their lives to keep us 180 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,079 Speaker 11: healthy and to keep this city running while also then 181 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 11: denying them the right to vote in how their taxes 182 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 11: are spent and who represents them in government. We're telling 183 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:33,200 Speaker 11: immigrant New Yorkers that we need them to continue to 184 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 11: put their bodies at risk, but that we don't really 185 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 11: care about their voices. And that is not the New 186 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 11: York City that I think most of us believe that 187 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,720 Speaker 11: we live in or want to live in. I spoke 188 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 11: with one of those frontline workers Paul mentioned. 189 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:49,200 Speaker 12: My name is Hinna Navid. I'm thirty one years old. 190 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:50,959 Speaker 12: I am a registered nurse. 191 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 10: She's also a recent law graduate from Quney School of Law, 192 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 10: and when we spoke, was serving as a campaign manager 193 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 10: for says At vodagas a candidate for Staten Island Bureau President. 194 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 10: Despite being unable to vote herself, Hinna has been door 195 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 10: knocking and volunteering to get out the vote for years. 196 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 12: A fight for justice and dignity for undocumented immigrants has 197 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 12: been something that I've been very passionate about for a 198 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 12: very long time. I am a doctor recipient, which means 199 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 12: I'm undocumented. I have a work authorization that I have 200 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,680 Speaker 12: to renew every two years that allows me to work 201 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 12: to pay taxes, but doesn't give me a path to citizenship. 202 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 12: And so for me, what that has essentially boiled down to, 203 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 12: for me and millions of undocumented immigrants, is taxation without representation. 204 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 10: Hinna is now pursuing a career in law and politics, 205 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 10: but her experience as a nurse in the time of 206 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 10: COVID and some of the dynamics and inequalities of the 207 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 10: city it helped expose, has left a substantial mark on 208 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 10: her outlook. 209 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 12: I remember during the height of the pandemic being an 210 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 12: essential worker as a registered nurse, literally being on the 211 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 12: front lines of this pandemic, working in different settings and 212 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 12: being deemed essential. However, not essential enough for citizenship, not 213 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 12: essential enough. 214 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 13: For the right to vote. 215 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,960 Speaker 10: How can the city so obviously depend on and tax 216 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 10: and in large part thrive because of one segment of 217 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 10: the population, and yet in many ways ignore them. Our city, 218 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 10: our vote would give people like Lucia and Hinna the 219 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 10: chance to go to the polls, to hold the politicians 220 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 10: who make decisions over their lives and who spend their 221 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,440 Speaker 10: tax dollars accountable. It's, also, according to supporters, a down 222 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,599 Speaker 10: payment on the basic health of the city, a reaffirmation 223 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,440 Speaker 10: of the very idea of democracy. Here's Paul of the 224 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 10: New York Immigration Coalition. 225 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 12: Again. 226 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:43,200 Speaker 11: The more folks who are in the process participating in 227 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 11: our democracy, the better it is for the entire city. 228 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 11: This is an opportunity for New York City to really 229 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 11: lead the country and lead the conversation in protecting and 230 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 11: expanding voting rights. 231 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 10: Granting non citizens the right to vote may sound like 232 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 10: a radical project and certainly attracts its critics. Stanley Renchin, 233 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 10: a professor of political science at City University of New York, 234 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 10: sees voting as an incentive for people too. As he 235 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:11,439 Speaker 10: put it, jump the line. 236 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 13: When people jump the line and they are given an 237 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 13: incentive to do it and a reward for doing it, 238 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 13: it underminds faith in the system as a whole, and 239 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 13: that's a very big and important issue for America as 240 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 13: a country. 241 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 10: It's worth noting that for many people across the world, 242 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 10: there really is no line, and migrating legally to the 243 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 10: United States is an impossibility. Still, allowing non citizens to 244 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,120 Speaker 10: vote is a practice with a long history in this 245 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,800 Speaker 10: country and isn't so rare in other parts of the 246 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 10: world either, including in Ireland, Sweden, and Australia. There's also 247 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 10: a number of US cities that already let non citizens 248 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 10: cast the ballot. 249 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino USA, we dive into the history 250 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 2: of immigrant voting rights inside and outside of the United States. 251 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 2: We'll also hear from people on both sides of the 252 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 2: New York voting build debate, as well as some non 253 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 2: citizens hoping to be able to head to the polls soon. 254 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 2: Stay with us, Hey. 255 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 10: We're back. 256 00:15:57,200 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 2: In the first part of our show, we looked at 257 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 2: the history of non citizen voting in the US. We're 258 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 2: going to hear the arguments from people for and against 259 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 2: the proposed bill in New York City and how this 260 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 2: could influence similar actions in the rest of the country. 261 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 2: Here's producer John Washington. 262 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 10: Jamie Raskin is the Maryland congressman who was tapped to 263 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 10: lead former President Trump's second impeachment trial. But long before 264 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 10: he entered into politics, he wrote an influential article in 265 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 10: The Law Review Journal that was passed around among voting 266 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 10: rights advocates. It was a key resource in implementing non 267 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 10: citizen voting rights in Tacoma Park, Maryland. Non citizens in 268 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 10: Tacoma Park have been voting a municipal election since the 269 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 10: nineteen nineties without either uproar or issue. In fact, Maryland 270 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 10: is a state with the most cities eleven in total, 271 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 10: that allow non citizens to vote for the local leaders. 272 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 10: Other states where foreign residents can vote are Illinois and 273 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 10: California's Raskin. 274 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 3: For most of American history, states granted voting rights at 275 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 3: the local level to non citizens. This was a standard 276 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,680 Speaker 3: practice in the eighteenth nineteenth centuries, implied by the property 277 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:15,159 Speaker 3: qualification for voting. Prior to the Civil War, pro slavery 278 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 3: forces tried to destroy non citizen voting because immigrants overwhelmingly 279 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 3: opposed slavery, But Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party vigorously 280 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 3: defended the practice of extending suffrage rights to permanent residents 281 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 3: who were on the pathway to citizenship. The Republicans made 282 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 3: the compelling argument that we all benefit when everyone participates 283 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 3: in their communities. That argument is still compelling today. 284 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 10: To understand more of that history and the current practice 285 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 10: of non citizen voting, I spoke with one of the 286 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 10: global experts on a topic, Ron Heyduke. He is a 287 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 10: former director of New York City Voter Assistance Commission and 288 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 10: currently professor at San Francisco State University. Ron is also 289 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 10: the author of Democracy for All, Restoring immigrant voting rights 290 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 10: in the United States. Here's Ron. 291 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 14: Most Americans are very surprised to learn that non citizen 292 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 14: voting or immigrant voting is older than the country itself. 293 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 14: Many of the early colonies allowed immigrants to vote and 294 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 14: run for office, and they did. 295 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 10: Ron explained that when Congress created new territories, it used 296 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:25,680 Speaker 10: the appeal of non citizen voting to attract settlers, and. 297 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:31,959 Speaker 14: When those territories became states, it kept that practiced intact, 298 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 14: not only the promise of free land, again stolen from 299 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 14: Native Americans, but real power and inclusion. 300 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 10: It's worth noting that Native Americans did not become US 301 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 10: citizens and therefore couldn't vote in national elections until nineteen 302 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 10: twenty four after the Civil War, with the Reconstruction Amendments 303 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 10: the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, which abolished slavery and guaranteed 304 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 10: equal protection of the laws and the right to vote, 305 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,439 Speaker 10: a backlash and a backsliding in terms of voting rights, 306 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 10: especially in the South. White Southerners used poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, 307 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 10: and brash violence, including lynchings, to try to scare Black 308 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 10: people away from voting booths. The institution of Jim Crow 309 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:24,920 Speaker 10: also paradoxically occurred at the same time the South let 310 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 10: more non citizens vote. An eighteen seventy four Supreme Court 311 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:33,480 Speaker 10: case minor v Happersit upheld the state's rights to implement 312 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 10: their own voting regulations, even if they were extending them 313 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 10: to non citizens. 314 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 14: They used immigrant voting as a means to say that 315 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 14: they're expanding the vote, but not for these folks, or 316 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 14: to say that it's only white males that are the 317 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:50,399 Speaker 14: true stakeholders. 318 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 10: But even as some non citizens were able to cast ballots, 319 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 10: women were still officially denied the vote, and black people 320 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 10: were largely blocked from the polls until the Voting Rights 321 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 10: at of nineteen sixty five. This is Lyndon B. Johnson, 322 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 10: the President who pushed to pass the bill. 323 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,919 Speaker 8: Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the 324 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 8: rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted 325 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,639 Speaker 8: in democracy. The most basic right of all was the 326 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:23,880 Speaker 8: right to choose your own leaders. The history of this country, 327 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:28,000 Speaker 8: in large measure, is the history of expansion of that 328 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 8: right to all of our people. 329 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 10: But it was in the North where immigrant voting rights 330 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 10: were first scaled back, and by the late nineteen twenties 331 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 10: most states and cities had stopped allowing non citizens access 332 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,119 Speaker 10: to the ballot. Well, voting has increasingly been restricted to 333 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 10: immigrants in the US, parts of Europe and Latin America 334 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 10: have gone the other way, extending voting rights to non citizens. 335 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 14: You can move to Ireland and in six months vote 336 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 14: in national elections and they've seen significant turnout to good effect. Right, 337 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 14: we've seen changes in policy, like in Sweden. There's in 338 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 14: number of studies that have showed how when immigrants participate 339 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 14: there's increases in and improvements in education policy and outcomes. 340 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 14: So again, the evidence kind of overwhelmingly shows that there's 341 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,400 Speaker 14: a generally positive outcome. 342 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 10: In terms of our city, our vote. It's important to 343 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 10: underscore that it's absolutely legal for cities and states to 344 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:29,240 Speaker 10: allow residents. Citizens are not to vote. Well, it's illegal 345 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:31,439 Speaker 10: for non citizens to vote in federal elections and they 346 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,360 Speaker 10: can face prison time if they try. There remains some 347 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,400 Speaker 10: dissonance in the interpretation of the law. 348 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,680 Speaker 8: That Constitution was admitted with people on a one man, 349 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 8: one vote basis and was adopted by. 350 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 10: Thee In nineteen sixty four, the Supreme Court took on 351 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 10: a case Reynald v. Simms, which addressed the unequal apportionment 352 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 10: of state legislatures based on a fundamental principle of democracy. 353 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,240 Speaker 10: The justices struck down an Alabama law that crookedly carved 354 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 10: up voting districts. As Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, undoubtedly 355 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 10: the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a 356 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 10: free and democratic society. In another voting rights case, Gravy 357 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 10: Sanders from nineteen sixty three, just as William O. Douglas wrote, 358 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 10: the conception of political equality from the Declaration of Independence 359 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 10: to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to the fifteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth 360 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 10: amendments can mean only one thing, one person, one vote. 361 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 10: But much like person used to legally signify only free 362 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 10: white men, even today, the idea of one person, one 363 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,880 Speaker 10: vote isn't as simple as it sounds. This brings us 364 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 10: back to the idea of no taxation without representation and 365 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 10: other axiomatic slogans that drove and centered the original concepts 366 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 10: of American government, and not just American government, but the 367 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 10: principles of governance that were followed or least tales across 368 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 10: the globe. Article twenty one of the United Nations nineteen 369 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 10: forty eight Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the 370 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 10: will of the people shall be the basis of the 371 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:17,400 Speaker 10: authority of government, but whose will. Grand conceptions of political 372 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 10: equality are thrown out the window when it comes to immigrants. 373 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,880 Speaker 10: You can pay taxes, serve in the military, own property, 374 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 10: go to school, be a working, contributing, and fully engaged 375 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 10: member of the community. Yet you can be arrested by 376 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,919 Speaker 10: immigration authorities while picking your kid up from school. In 377 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,880 Speaker 10: many states, you can't legally drive, and in almost all 378 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 10: cities you can't even vote for the mayor. Ron Hayduke, 379 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 10: the expert we heard from in the first part, puts 380 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:43,960 Speaker 10: it this way. 381 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 14: You know, it's basically about inclusion, it's about fairness. The 382 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 14: idea is, if you pay taxes, if you're a community member, 383 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 14: you should have a say in Who are the representatives 384 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 14: that enact law and policy that affects your lives on 385 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 14: a daily basis. You know, we're having a national sort 386 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 14: of reckoning in some ways today regarding our inglorious past, 387 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 14: from the displacement and genocide of Dative Americans, to the 388 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,920 Speaker 14: enslavement of African Americans, to the exclusion of women and 389 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 14: other groups, or to their marginalization. You know, this question 390 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 14: that's sort of burning and being debated in lots of ways. 391 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 14: Who's an American? What's America? What's this American? Project about 392 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 14: and I think immigrant voting sort of helps cut to 393 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 14: the heart of it because it gets at these questions 394 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,199 Speaker 14: about who are we, what is the best way that 395 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 14: we should organize ourselves as a society, and questions of 396 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 14: inclusion are at center. 397 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 10: New York Councilman Idaniz Rodriguez, who sponsored the most recent 398 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 10: iteration of Our City Our Vote bill, sees it pretty clearly. 399 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:54,520 Speaker 15: We have close to one million in Yorkers that they 400 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 15: have green cars, they have working papers, they pay the taxes, 401 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 15: they do the contribution during KOVID. So for me, it's 402 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,359 Speaker 15: about the recognition of the work that those brothers and 403 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 15: says that they've been making to the city. This is 404 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,400 Speaker 15: about doing these things as a favor to those immigrants, 405 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 15: those poor people. This is about it is the right. 406 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 15: We are late and we should correct it. And I 407 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 15: think that this is the right thing to do. 408 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 10: But adding nearly a million potential voters to a city 409 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,880 Speaker 10: with five plus million registered voters is no small thing. 410 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 10: It's hard to know how city politics might be shaken up. 411 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,160 Speaker 10: I asked them about political consequences. 412 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 15: The consequence is that we're going to be expanding voting right. 413 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,160 Speaker 15: They are going to be empowering most New York crits 414 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 15: to take control of who are the leaders, and those 415 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 15: leaders will be accountable. This is about if people pay taxes, 416 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 15: they should elect the leader, and if anyone have a 417 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,360 Speaker 15: different approach, then they should move to another town, another 418 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,200 Speaker 15: country that has not been built by immigrants. 419 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 10: Critics of the bills see it pretty differently. Stanley Renching, 420 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 10: again the professor at City University of New York, who 421 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 10: talked about jumping the line. 422 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,680 Speaker 13: There are many different ways to have your voice heard, 423 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 13: and I've listed some of them. You can contribute money, 424 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,439 Speaker 13: you can work for a campaign, you can work you know, 425 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,879 Speaker 13: you know, in a civic organization, and so forth, and 426 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 13: all of those things are going to I'm going to 427 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 13: use the word apprenticeships. They're they're like democratic apprenticeships. They're 428 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 13: learning the roks or learning what the country's like, you know, 429 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 13: the ins and outs and ups and downs of a country, 430 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,679 Speaker 13: and those are things that you can do legally here. 431 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,439 Speaker 10: Essentially, he worries that non citizens wouldn't have the knowledge 432 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:44,919 Speaker 10: of their communities to be able to make informed decisions, 433 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 10: and that besides voting, there are other ways for non 434 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 10: citizens to be politically engaged. 435 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 13: Americans Inhale America. They grow up here. They listen to 436 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 13: their parents speak English, they know their grandpa, arns their friends, 437 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,160 Speaker 13: their brothers, their sisters, They go to school, they watch 438 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 13: the TV. You know, by the time an average person 439 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 13: is born into the United States, by the time they're twelve, 440 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,679 Speaker 13: they've absorbed a hell of a lot of culture. And 441 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 13: there's just no substitute for that kind of experience. You know, 442 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 13: you can't buy it at the grocery store. 443 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 10: He acknowledges that plenty of Americans can be ignorant of 444 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 10: some aspects of political and civic life, but still thinks 445 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 10: the bill is a bad idea. 446 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:32,400 Speaker 13: You're being given the vote with no effort. And I'll 447 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 13: tell you what I mean about effort, because there's something there. 448 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 13: We want immigrants to become Americans, and it takes some effort. 449 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 13: They have to navigate a new culture. You know, they 450 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 13: come over here. You know, wherever they came from, it 451 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,640 Speaker 13: ain't New York, and so they have to learn it. 452 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:55,640 Speaker 13: It's not easy. We know it's hard, but it's worth it. 453 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,680 Speaker 13: And in part, you tell us something about your interest 454 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 13: in us by how worth it you think it is. 455 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,080 Speaker 13: So on balance, you know, I'm a big I'm a 456 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:13,160 Speaker 13: big one balance person, and uh, you know I on balance. 457 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 13: It's an unnecessary, not a good idea. 458 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 10: Ron, the global expert on voting rights, does see value 459 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:22,120 Speaker 10: in the New York Bill. 460 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,680 Speaker 14: You know, we look back in history and say, oh, yeah, 461 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 14: that was wrong to exclude you know, African Americans and 462 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,680 Speaker 14: women and young people. Well, why not for immigrants too. 463 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 14: You know, we talk about immigrant inclusion and empowerment, especially 464 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 14: in New York. Well, okay, let's make it real. 465 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 10: Looking beyond New York City, there are twenty five million 466 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 10: non citizens living in the United States, about twelve point 467 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 10: three million Green card holders, and eleven million or so 468 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 10: undocumented people. That's about eight percent of the total US population, 469 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 10: people who are of voting age and have no say 470 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,560 Speaker 10: in the policies that affect them. Except for the well 471 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,719 Speaker 10: healed and well connected, the path that any legal status 472 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 10: in the United States is nearly insurmountable. And even for 473 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 10: those who, by wealth, family connection, having suffered severe persecution, 474 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 10: or by blind luck, are able to snag Green cards, 475 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 10: plenty of hurdles still remain before they can become citizens 476 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 10: and register to vote. After becoming a legal permanent resident, 477 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 10: you still need to wait five years, passive civics test, 478 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 10: an English language test, drop seven hundred and twenty five dollars, 479 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 10: and dodge getting swept up in the zealous criminal justice system. 480 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,800 Speaker 10: Only then, if you're a granted citizenship, can you sign 481 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,880 Speaker 10: up the vote? Here's Senator Warnock again. 482 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 9: America is a land where possibility is born of democracy. 483 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 9: Our vote is our voice, a chance to help determine 484 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,080 Speaker 9: the direction of our country and our own destiny within it. 485 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 10: Of course, those twenty five million non citizens have a voice, 486 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 10: and many of them use it beautifully and powerfully, and 487 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 10: yet politically there's no doubt that those voices are also muffled. 488 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 10: As the New York Built gained momentum early this summer, 489 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,480 Speaker 10: I went to a rally in Corona Plaza, Queens, where 490 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 10: those voices were. 491 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 13: Raised, What what tack? 492 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 3: What do we do? 493 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 14: What are voices are under track? 494 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:32,400 Speaker 8: What do we do? 495 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 14: A futures under attack? 496 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 9: What do we do? 497 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 10: Queens is the most diverse of New York City's five boroughs, 498 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 10: with a population of more than one million immigrants, including 499 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 10: six hundred and sixty thousand Green card holders and approximately 500 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 10: half a million undocumented people. With a seven train clanking 501 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 10: overhead street vendors hawking tacos, backpacks and top sets. In 502 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 10: the background, About one hundred or so politicians and supporters 503 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 10: gathered to promote the bill. 504 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 16: Are Vote. 505 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 17: My name is Doma Lama. I'm a community organizer, community volunteer, 506 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 17: and a community lover. So I am a representative of 507 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 17: the whole Nepali community, and I'm here to share my 508 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 17: voice and give the voice to my community. This bill 509 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 17: is very much important to us because we have about 510 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 17: forty five thousand documented people who are not eligible to 511 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 17: vote just because they do not have a citizenship. 512 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 10: I asked Domo what specific issues would drive non citizen 513 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 10: Nepolis to the polls in New York. 514 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,880 Speaker 17: I would say the most important issue is always language justice. 515 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 17: Language barrier has always been such an important and crucial 516 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 17: social issue that we have been fighting. My community has 517 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 17: like full support in this bill, and we are going 518 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:00,479 Speaker 17: to demand it. We're going to fight it. 519 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 10: I also caught up with Catalina Cruz, a state assembly 520 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 10: woman who is formally undocumented, and described this bill as personal. 521 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,360 Speaker 18: So I'm here to support not only because I used 522 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 18: to be one of those folks. I used to be indocumented. 523 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,719 Speaker 18: I used to not feel like my voice counted, and 524 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 18: I want my neighbors to feel respected. 525 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 10: I asked her what would change giving voice, as she 526 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 10: and many others put it, is one thing, but what 527 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 10: will newly enfranchised people do with that voice. 528 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 18: We could see more dreamers in office. We could see 529 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 18: more formerly undocumented people who now have the power in office. 530 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,240 Speaker 18: We could see more immigrants in office. We could see 531 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,080 Speaker 18: more people that are black and brown in office. We 532 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 18: could see more people who believe that all of us 533 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,040 Speaker 18: deserve of a ride to have our voice respected. 534 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 10: For Francisco Moya, a council member, passing the bill as 535 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 10: a goal close to his heart. 536 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 19: My mother, as she's a resident, she's never had the 537 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 19: opportunity to vote for me. She's always wanted that opportunity. 538 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,520 Speaker 19: As she sees me, you know, on TIEV and she 539 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 19: sees the palm cards and all of those things, and 540 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,719 Speaker 19: all of the newspaper clippings that she keeps in a scrapbook. 541 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:11,200 Speaker 19: She's very proud. And my mom has worked and paid taxes, 542 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,480 Speaker 19: and you know, she's on a pathway to citizenship right now. 543 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 19: But this would give the opportunity for my mom and 544 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 19: a million other residents here in New York that say 545 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,880 Speaker 19: have similar experiences and have similar stories, that have one 546 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 19: thing in mind, which is having a voice in local politics, 547 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 19: and this would give them that opportunity. 548 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,959 Speaker 10: Another supporter of the bills Tiffanykabon, former public defender who 549 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 10: captured the nation's attention as part of a new progressive 550 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 10: approach to DA's offices when she ran for Queen's District 551 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,959 Speaker 10: Attorney in twenty eighteen. She narrowly lost that election by 552 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 10: less than one hundred votes. I spoke with her in June, 553 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 10: days before the New York City primary in which she 554 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 10: was running for city council. It's not difficult to imagine 555 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,000 Speaker 10: a number of recent close races, including one of your own, 556 00:33:58,040 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 10: that I can think of, that may have gone very 557 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 10: differently if a bill like this were already in place. 558 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 10: Is that something that you think about all the time. 559 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 16: I think about it all the time. Mostly I think 560 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 16: about it in a little bit slightly, a little bit 561 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 16: of a different context. I think about how we have 562 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:18,279 Speaker 16: systematically disenfranchised black and brown voters through criminalization right that 563 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,360 Speaker 16: we have taken away the right to vote. And I 564 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 16: have consistently said that if we re enfranchised every person, 565 00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,840 Speaker 16: that we have taken away the right to vote because 566 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 16: of criminalization. We could literally turn every single election in 567 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,080 Speaker 16: the country full stop. And I think about the same 568 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:36,920 Speaker 16: way with our immigrant communities. 569 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:41,800 Speaker 10: What concrete, political specific things do you think would change 570 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:43,959 Speaker 10: in New York because of a bill like this. 571 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,160 Speaker 16: A ton of different things. I think that you might 572 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 16: find that we would have stronger workplace protections that made 573 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 16: sure that our immigrant neighbors didn't have their wages stolen, 574 00:34:55,440 --> 00:35:00,560 Speaker 16: that their status wasn't weaponized by employers, that safety standards 575 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 16: in workplaces are raised for them. We would see that 576 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,320 Speaker 16: as we are building out the capacity of our healthcare 577 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,360 Speaker 16: system and saying, hey, we have to build not just 578 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,759 Speaker 16: more hospitals, but more clinics and understanding at the city 579 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,280 Speaker 16: level the Department of Health and Hospitals is the first 580 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,560 Speaker 16: point of care for most of our black and brown, 581 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,320 Speaker 16: low income and yes, immigrant communities, that we are building 582 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 16: out clinics that prioritize being able to give comprehensive and 583 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 16: culturally competent care, right that there's language access. 584 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:33,759 Speaker 10: What about nationally the importance of this build do you 585 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,240 Speaker 10: think this is like maybe setting a marker or potentially 586 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,880 Speaker 10: could be an example of trying to push back against 587 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,200 Speaker 10: like anti voting or voting restriction laws. 588 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,880 Speaker 16: One we could be a model right for across the 589 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 16: country at the municipal level that hopefully would be scaled 590 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,560 Speaker 16: and adopted at state and federal levels. You know, in 591 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 16: terms of theory of change, I think it always starts 592 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 16: at the local level and building out a bench of 593 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,880 Speaker 16: support and modeling it and showing that it works and 594 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 16: that it results in a more just community, infrastructure, government, democracy, 595 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:07,920 Speaker 16: and then making the case for it at every level 596 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,240 Speaker 16: of government to the point that it can't be denied. 597 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,320 Speaker 10: Let's go back to Hinna, the frontline worker. She asks 598 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,879 Speaker 10: a simple question, and how. 599 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 12: Do we hold our elected officials accountable by voting? And 600 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,440 Speaker 12: that's what it all comes down to, and so that's 601 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,279 Speaker 12: why this fight is so important to me. I want 602 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:34,400 Speaker 12: to make sure that all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, 603 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 12: regardless of background, have the right to vote. We've seen 604 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:41,720 Speaker 12: that it works in participatory budgeting, where regardless of status, 605 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:45,200 Speaker 12: you're able to have input on where discussionary funds are allocated, 606 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,160 Speaker 12: and it makes a difference. People feel more connected to 607 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 12: the community that they had to say in And that's 608 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 12: why I'm pushing for this. 609 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 10: I asked her if stories like hers of people unable 610 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,320 Speaker 10: to vote but who are productively and abundantly engaged in 611 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,160 Speaker 10: the community might help us get us closer to the 612 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,240 Speaker 10: full promise of democracy. 613 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:08,400 Speaker 12: Whatever it takes for them to recognize that everybody has value. Inherently, 614 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:13,880 Speaker 12: undocumented immigrants, just like legal citizens, are contributing to this 615 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,440 Speaker 12: economy and are essential in ensuring that it gets back 616 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,399 Speaker 12: up and running, and they deserve the right to vote. 617 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:27,319 Speaker 12: They're worthy of the right to vote. 618 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 2: In late June, the Justice Department announced it was suing 619 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,840 Speaker 2: the state of Georgia over its due election law. It 620 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 2: alleges that the bill was rushed through the legislature and 621 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,560 Speaker 2: that its intent is to deny black voters equal access 622 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:46,440 Speaker 2: to the ballot. The Justice Department may bring similar suits 623 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:51,880 Speaker 2: against other states. Meanwhile, with a supermajority of council members, 624 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:56,000 Speaker 2: New York's Our City, Our Vote bill could be up 625 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,239 Speaker 2: for a vote later this summer. By the way, you 626 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,799 Speaker 2: can read a print version of this story on the 627 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:19,759 Speaker 2: Nation's website at the nation dot com slash New York Vote. 628 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,799 Speaker 2: This episode was produced by John Washington with help from 629 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 2: Julia Rocha. It was edited by Andrea Lopez Cruzado and 630 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:35,279 Speaker 2: mixed by Julia Caruso. The Latino USA team includes Marta Martinez, 631 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:40,280 Speaker 2: Mike Sargent, Julia Ta Martinelli, Victoria Estrada, Patricia Sulbaran Gini 632 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:44,399 Speaker 2: montalbo Alejandra Salassard and Rinaldo Leanuz Junior, with help from 633 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:48,319 Speaker 2: Raoul Perees. Our editorial director is Julio Ricardo Barella. Our 634 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:53,040 Speaker 2: supervising senior engineer is Stephanie Lebau. Additional engineering by Lea 635 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:56,840 Speaker 2: shl Damaran with help from Gabriela Bayez. Our digital editor 636 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 2: is Louis Luna. Our New York Women's Foundation ignitefel Is 637 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 2: Mari Esquinka. Our intern is Oscar Dedon. Our theme music 638 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 2: was composed by Zanie Robinos. If you like the music 639 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,759 Speaker 2: you heard on this episode, stop by Latinousa dot org 640 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:14,000 Speaker 2: and check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm your host 641 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,520 Speaker 2: and executive producer marigaho Josa. Join us again next time, 642 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,800 Speaker 2: and in the meantime look for us on social media. 643 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:22,400 Speaker 2: I'll see you there. Bye. 644 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 20: Latino USA is made possible in part by W. K. 645 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:33,200 Speaker 20: Kellogg Foundation, a partner with Communities where Children Come First, 646 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:37,920 Speaker 20: New York Women's Foundation, the New York Women's Foundation, funding 647 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:41,920 Speaker 20: women leaders that build solutions in their communities, and celebrating 648 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:47,640 Speaker 20: thirty years of radical generosity and the chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 649 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:52,399 Speaker 12: You know, my. 650 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 3: Father just last year was able to vote for the 651 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,000 Speaker 3: first time, and my who. 652 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:01,480 Speaker 17: I hope he voted for me. 653 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:07,360 Speaker 2: By the way, I'm Maria Jossa. Next Time on Latino USA. 654 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 2: Celebrated poet Aida Lemon revisits her debut collection, Lucky Wreck, 655 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:19,319 Speaker 2: celebrating its fifteenth anniversary and its re release. That's next 656 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:22,640 Speaker 2: Time on Latino USA.