{"id":2652961,"date":"2026-09-01T10:15:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignny-mag-goes-from-noncitizen-voting-is-imaginary-to-heres-why-its-good\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T10:28:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:28:58","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignny-mag-goes-from-noncitizen-voting-is-imaginary-to-heres-why-its-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignny-mag-goes-from-noncitizen-voting-is-imaginary-to-heres-why-its-good\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Mag Goes From &#8216;Noncitizen Voting Is Imaginary&#8217; To &#8216;Here&#8217;s Why It&#8217;s Good&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignny-mag-goes-from-noncitizen-voting-is-imaginary-to-heres-why-its-good%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2652961&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Teh article discusses the evolution of media coverage and political debates surrounding noncitizen voting in the United States. It highlights how New York Magazine initially dismissed concerns about noncitizen voting as &#8220;imaginary&#8221; when Republicans proposed stricter voter identification laws, but later acknowledged the issue as legitimate when Democrats sought to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections in New York City. The piece criticizes the magazine\u2019s portrayal of Republican worries as hysteria and examines the Legislation (Local Law 11) which would have permitted around 800,000 noncitizens, including legal residents and workers, to vote in local races-though the law was ultimately blocked. The article argues that voting rights are inherently reserved for citizens, emphasizing that citizenship confers political membership and rights, and that noncitizens do not have a moral or legal entitlement to vote. It criticizes narratives framing noncitizen voting as a matter of dignity and respect, viewing such arguments as emotional appeals or propaganda. Furthermore, the piece condemns comparisons to historic restrictions, such as those during the Civil War, and warns that <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >expanding noncitizen voting risks undermining national sovereignty<\/a>. Ultimately, the article contends that media narratives shift based on political agendas, portraying concerns as either manufactured panic or justified, depending on the context.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThe GOP Is Panicking Over Noncitizen Voting. It\u2019s Imaginary,\u201d read a <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/the-gop-is-panicking-over-noncitizen-voting-its-imaginary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">headline<\/a> in New York Magazine this past February. The article maligned Republican efforts to pass the SAVE America Act, which would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ballots-cast-without-proof-of-citizenship-exploded-after-lawfare-crippled-arizona-election-laws\/\" title=\"Arizona&#039;s ... ...s were weakened by ...fare, leading to a significant increase in ballots cast without proof of ...hip\">require documentary proof<\/a> of citizenship to register to vote. New York Magazine accused Republicans of focusing on a \u201cphantom menace of noncitizen voting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward seven months and New York Magazine has gone from claiming that noncitizen voting is \u201cimaginary\u201d to asking \u201cWhy is noncitizen voting so terrifying?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NY Magazine\u2019s Zak Cheney-Rice <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/non-citizen-voting-trump-new-york-city-local-law-11.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">focuses his latest piece<\/a> on New York City\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/02\/11\/after-years-of-crying-about-alleged-foreign-election-interference-dems-are-begging-a-court-to-let-noncitizens-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Local Law 11<\/a>, which would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections before it was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/03\/20\/new-yorks-highest-court-shoots-down-democrats-efforts-to-let-noncitizens-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot down<\/a> by the state\u2019s highest court. The legislation would have made roughly 800,000 noncitizens eligible for voting for offices like council or mayor. Those eligible would have included lawful permanent residents and others authorized to work in the United States who had been living in the city for at least 30 days. <\/p>\n<p>This law was in no way an \u201cimaginary\u201d change. In fact, it was a real point of contention that had been around long before New York Magazine\u2019s February article dismissing noncitizen voting as \u201cimaginary.\u201d Had the law gone into effect, noncitizens could have constituted a significant part of the Big Apple electorate and could have exceeded margins of victory in tight local races \u2014 not an \u201cimaginary\u201d problem by any means.<\/p>\n<p>And while the SAVE America Act pertains to federal elections and the New York City law regarded local elections, the distinction still doesn\u2019t change the fact that in February, New York Magazine treated Republican concerns about noncitizen voting as a \u201cphantom\u201d hysteria rooted in white supremacy. Yet now when discussing Democrats\u2019 past efforts to allow noncitizens to vote, New York Magazine doesn\u2019t merely acknowledge the \u201cimaginary\u201d problem is actually real \u2014 instead, it tries to convince readers that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-affirms-arizonas-need-to-keep-noncitizens-off-voter-rolls-but-makes-it-harder-to-do-so\/\" title=\"Court upholds Arizona&#039;s ...r roll restrictions for non..., but raises barriers\">preventing noncitizen voting<\/a> is actually evil and that maybe this Democrat-backed legislation to allow noncitizens to vote was the right move all along. <\/p>\n<p>Cheney-Rice frames his pro-noncitizen voting story through the story of Ydanis Rodriguez, a councilman who sponsored the legislation. Rodriguez immigrated from the Dominican Republic, lived in the United States on a green card, and \u201cpaid taxes\u201d and \u201cwas part of the community, but could not vote\u201d until he was granted citizenship in 2000.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas citizenship,\u201d Cheney-Rice asked, \u201creally what turned him from someone who was not qualified to help choose the mayor into someone who was?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Yes. That is precisely what citizenship did. <\/p>\n<p>Citizenship formally made Rodriguez a member of the American political community. It was a gift given to Rodriguez. America owed him nothing. That Rodriguez paid taxes did not entitle him to a ballot. Despite Cheney-Rice\u2019s angling, paying taxes was not a favor Rodriguez performed for Americans, it was the obligation that came with being allowed to live in and work in the country that generously chose to let him live here. But voting is not \u2014 nor should be\u2013 a reward for paying taxes. <\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, Cheney-Rice takes Rodriguez\u2019s framing that noncitizen voting is \u201cabout giving people who pay taxes dignity and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The framing implies that protecting voting for citizens only is now apparently a denial of \u201cdignity and respect.\u201d In other words, opposition to noncitizen voting puts you on the wrong side of this moral dilemma: either you \u201crespect\u201d someone and their \u201cdignity\u201d and let them vote, or you don\u2019t let them vote because you deny their \u201cdignity\u201d and don\u2019t \u201crespect\u201d them. It\u2019s the same emotional blackmail seen when Democrats demand Americans pay billions in foreign aid. <\/p>\n<p>But this is the first step in Cheney-Rice\u2019s propaganda tirade: turn a legitimate dispute about political rights into a story about how these poor sympathetic immigrants are victims who are being denied \u201cdignity\u201d and \u201crespect\u201d by evil Americans. <\/p>\n<p>Cheney-Rice furthers the victim narrative by making one of the most insane comparisons of all time: not wanting foreigners to vote in your election is akin to the Civil War. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cConfederates banned immigrant suffrage during the Civil War because they thought migrating Europeans were anti-slavery, while northern states rolled back voting rights in reaction to waves of immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century, which they associated with crime,\u201d Cheney-Rice wrote. While he doesn\u2019t explicitly say anyone who opposes noncitizen voting is bigoted, racist, or whatever other slur he clearly associates with the Confederacy or Americans in the 18th and 19th century, his point of invoking these examples is to equate opposition of noncitizen voting to Confederates, knowing the historical weight of such comparison. It\u2019s guilt by association: if you don\u2019t want to be thought of as a Confederate, you must allow noncitizens to rule you.<\/p>\n<p>The article\u2019s purpose \u2014 or should I say, propaganda \u2014 becomes more clear when Cheney-Rice tries to argue that \u201cnoncitizens \u2026 remain an ineradicable part of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe depend on their labor and tax dollars to function but, on a policy level at least, keep them trapped in legal limbo,\u201d he writes. \u201cThey are unable to consent to how they are governed and are prevented from becoming full citizens so they can have a say.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The point is clear: Americans are evil people who have \u201ctrapped\u201d foreigners who willingly came here, exploit their labor to sustain our economy (which, by the way, isn\u2019t true, which is why Cheney-Rice provides no source for such bogus claim), and then deny them the ability to \u201cconsent\u201d to the government under which they live. The implication is that giving them access to elections is the <em>least<\/em> we can do for this supposed injustice. The propaganda is useful if you want to sell noncitizen voting but it\u2019s not a serious telling of the situation.  <\/p>\n<p>Foreign nationals who <em>choose<\/em> to live in the United States do not have some inherent right to determine our laws and govern us. No one who voluntarily chooses to immigrate here is \u201ctrapped\u201d and further, their voluntary immigration is their way of consenting to living under our laws. If they do not like it, they can leave or try to apply for citizenship. But simply living in the United States does not entitle a foreigner to citizenship or the benefits of it. And if it <em>does,<\/em> then why limit the ballot access to green card holders or people with work authorization? Why not people on temporary visas? Why require 30 days of residency? What is the limiting principle?<\/p>\n<p>Of course there is no logical limiting principle <em>except<\/em> using citizenship as the requirement. <\/p>\n<p>In fact, the article itself provides an example that inadvertently demonstrates why citizenship matters. Cheney-Rice recounts a 1986 school board voting drive that \u201cregistered 10,000 parents, most of whom were Dominican immigrants, ahead of an upcoming school-board election. The impact was immediate. New voters helped elect as school-board president Guillermo Linares, the first Dominican to ever hold public office in the U.S. Neighborhood schools that for years had been neglected saw an influx of investment, including more funding and after-school programs. The difference was not that the government suddenly cared more about immigrants. The difference was that noncitizens \u2014 who in all other meaningful respects were everyday New Yorkers \u2014 had the power to defend their own interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was supposed to be an argument <em>for<\/em> noncitizen voting but really it\u2019s the clearest argument <em>against<\/em> noncitizen voting: when noncitizens get enough electoral power to organize around <em>their<\/em> shared interest, it redirects <em>American<\/em> money toward foreign-based priorities of immigrants \u2014 not Americans. <\/p>\n<p>Cheney-Rice does, however, briefly concede the dangers of noncitizen voting. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are plenty of valid reasons why such a right would be restricted to national citizens. The very idea of a sovereign nation would be undermined if the people dictating its priorities were foreigners who could simply drop into the country on Election Day. Yet it felt increasingly like the most salient question was the one skeptics weren\u2019t asking: Why shouldn\u2019t people who\u2019ve made the U.S. their home have some authority over their political fate?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The answer to this question is that just because foreigners decided to make US their home doesn\u2019t mean Americans must give these foreigners permission to rule us. <\/p>\n<p>A nation has a right to decide who gets to join its political community, and Americans have the right to reserve control of their government to citizens and not foreign nationals. If we adopt Cheney-Rice\u2019s position, then citizenship is entirely meaningless if any foreigner can come here and change our laws. <\/p>\n<p>But the most revealing part of this whole story is that it exposes New York Magazine\u2019s propaganda. When Republicans were pushing the SAVE America Act to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, the magazine declared concerns about noncitizen voting \u201cimaginary.\u201d Those concerns were nothing ore than a manufactured panic by Republicans to justify supposed voter suppression legislation. Seven months later, when the subject is about Democrats\u2019 desire to let 800,000 noncitizens vote, noncitizen voting is suddenly very real and apparently a good thing. In fact, it\u2019s such a good thing that Cheney-Rice has to resort to moral blackmail to make such a point!<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not that noncitizen voting was \u201cimaginary\u201d in February but then became real over the past few months. The difference is that New York Magazine has an agenda. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NY Mag: GOP&#8217;s noncitizen voting fears are fake<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2652962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/54483179141_b0c76e5a71_k-e1788238789126.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[36987,84963,39416],"class_list":["post-2652961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-noncitizen-voting","tag-ny-mag","tag-political-change"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/54483179141_b0c76e5a71_k-e1788238789126.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2652961"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652975,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652961\/revisions\/2652975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2652962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2652961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2652961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2652961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}