A previous version of the article had a headline that incorrectly stated that a judge had thrown out a challenge to a nonresident voting law. The challenge was to a noncitizen voting law. The headline has been corrected.
A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit challenging a D.C. statute letting noncitizens vote in local elections, concluding that the plaintiffs failed to prove the law has harmed them.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson in D.C. rejected an argument from seven D.C. voters that letting residents without citizenship cast ballots in local — but not federal — races dilutes the votes of citizens. She said the plaintiffs did not show that they’ve been treated inequitably or denied opportunities because of the D.C. Noncitizen Voting Act, which the D.C. Council passed in 2022.
“They may object as a matter of policy to the fact that immigrants get to vote at all, but their votes will not receive less weight or be treated differently than noncitizens’ votes. … At bottom, they are simply raising a generalized grievance,” Berman wrote in an opinion accompanying her order.
The D.C.-based Immigration Reform Law Institute, which represents the plaintiffs, said it would appeal the decision. The nonprofit advocates for limiting immigration.
“At stake is the sovereignty of the American people over this country,” litigation director Christopher Hajec wrote in an email. “The courts’ consideration of this vitally-important case has just begun.”
A spokeswoman for the D.C. Board of Elections declined to comment.
The voters who sued the elections board last year included former Republican mayoral candidate Stacia R. Hall, who lost to Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) in 2022, and Dick A. Heller, a retired security officer whose 2008 Supreme Court case ended D.C.’s gun ban.
Their complaint sought to stop the board from registering noncitizens as voters, counting their ballots or spending money to implement the statute. The lawsuit also pointed out that the statute allows noncitizens to be elected to public office.
Advocates for the statute argued that noncitizens have an interest in local issues, including schools and public safety, and should get a say in the public officials who shape those topics.
Jose Barrios, president of the D.C. Latino Caucus, said Thursday that he was “quite happy to hear that we’re going to have more democracy, not less in the District of Columbia.” He said his organization has been contacting noncitizens to help them register to vote.
“We think that if people are here, if they’re paying their taxes, they are running small businesses, employing people or being employed in our city, having their kids in our schools and participating in the local economics of our city, then they should have a voice in local politics,” Barrios said.
The voting law took effect last year after several previous efforts to let noncitizens cast ballots failed. During the congressional review that all D.C. laws are subject to, House Republicans and some Democrats sought to block the legislation. Their resolution then expired in a Senate committee, enabling the voting bill to become law.
Justin Wm. Moyer and Meagan Flynn contributed to this report.