The House of Representatives voted to overturn a D.C. law that would allow illegal aliens to vote in local elections.

In October 2022, the D.C. Council passed the "Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act," which gave legal non-citizens and illegal aliens the right to vote in the nation's capital.

The GOP-led House voted 260-173 to overturn the new law.  Forty-two Democrats joined the Republicans in opposing it.

For the law to be struck down, the Democrat-led Senate must vote against it, and the president must sign it.

According to NBC News, approximately 50,000 residents in D.C. are non-citizens.

In January 2023, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would prevent illegal aliens from voting in D.C.

According to the Daily Caller, the legislation would prohibit any federal funds from being used by the district to allow non-citizens to vote in any election.

Prior to introducing the legislation, Cruz said:

Allowing non-citizens, including aliens occupying our nation illegally, to exercise a right reserved for American citizens not only violates the constitutional principles our nation was founded upon, but also naively invites foreign meddling in our elections.

Voting is a privilege and the tool by which American citizens exercise their say in who leads our country, how we spend our tax dollars, and what policies should be instituted. I am vehemently against unconstitutionally cheapening the votes of American citizens and ignoring the rule of law in this nation.

If the law were to pass, it would allow foreign nationals who pledged allegiance to other countries, such as Russia and China, to vote in D.C. elections.

Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, stated that "eighty-four percent of Americans agree that only citizens should have the right to vote."  A poll cited by The Hill bears this out.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the GOP is reviving the "legacy of slavery" by prohibiting non-citizens from voting in D.C.

Ocasio-Cortez said that the GOP's opposition to the law is "singling out the residents of the District of Columbia and expanding in the history of disenfranchisement that goes all the way back to the legacy of slavery."

She falsely accused Republicans of denying Black Americans the right to vote.  Republicans "claim they believe in the sacred right to vote while denying that right to vote to an overwhelmingly Black city."

House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave a speech on the House floor condemning the non-citizens voting rights law.  "A healthy republic has two basic duties: guarantee free and fair elections; and protect life, liberty, and property from violence," he said.

Image: Lars Di Scenza via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped).