State GOP, Republican National Committee Sue Vermont City Over Noncitizens Voting

People cast ballots on electronic voting machines for the midterm election during early voting ahead of Election Day inside a vote center at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, 2022. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Republicans are suing the city of Winooski in Vermont to block a local ordinance that allows foreigners to vote in school board elections.

Last year, Winooski started permitting foreign nationals to vote in local elections. The Winooski Incorporated School District links its voter qualification to the city’s charter, so foreign nationals can vote in school district elections as well, including those related to school budgets. The city’s annual education budget is paid for from the State Education Fund.

The lawsuit (pdf) insists that allowing noncitizens to vote on such issues violates the state constitution.

“Chapter II, Section 42 of the Vermont Constitution establishes United States citizenship as a requirement for voting on ‘freemen’ issues, which include ‘any matter that concerns the State of Vermont,'” according to the lawsuit.

“Plaintiffs seek an injunction compelling Defendant to refrain from implementing the invalid voting scheme, including refraining from registering noncitizen voters to participate in education-related elections and referendums in the City of Winooski.”

Plaintiffs in the case include the Vermont Republican Party (VTGOP), the Republican National Committee (RNC), and two residents. The lawsuit was filed in the civil unit of the Chittenden County Superior Court.

Previous Lawsuit

In September 2021, a group of plaintiffs challenged Winooski’s charter amendments allowing noncitizens to vote.

A year later in September 2022, the Chittenden Court granted the City of Winooski’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Plaintiffs appealed the case to the Vermont Supreme Court, which later ruled that Winooski’s amendment was within the scope of the state constitution (pdf).

In the most recent lawsuit, plaintiffs pointed out that the justices at the time did not consider what makes a vote “statewide” or “municipal” in nature.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling emphasized that an election which is “municipal in name” but is traditionally concerned with a statewide issue could not avoid being subjected to the voter eligibility requirements as outlined in the state constitution.

Plaintiffs allege that they have suffered “redressable harm” caused by the defendant. The individual plaintiffs are voters whose votes will be “diluted by noncitizen votes made possible by Winooski’s charter change,” it argues.

Members belonging to VTGOP and the RNC will also have their votes diluted, the lawsuit argues.

“The RNC and VTGOP also anticipate having to expend additional resources on ‘get out the vote’ and other election efforts and for recruiting and supporting candidates who will have to contend with an expanded voter pool that includes unconstitutional noncitizen votes in elections for the school board and with respect to the education budget,” the lawsuit stated.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Winooski was home to 8,330 people as of July 1, 2021, with white residents accounting for about 80 percent of the population and Asian residents making up close to 13 percent. Between 2017 and 2021, foreign-born persons made up 14.2 percent of its population.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Winooski City Council members and the mayor for comment.

Noncitizen Voting

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the RNC, praised the RNC and VTGOP’s lawsuit against Winooski in a tweet on March 9.

“We won a massive lawsuit against New York City last year over this same issue. American elections should be decided by American citizens—full stop,” she said.

In addition to Winooski, the city of Montpelier in Vermont started allowing foreign nationals to cast votes in local elections last year, Breitbart reported. In a March 7 referral, 67 percent of voters in Burlington, Vermont, also voted to allow such a policy.