Andrew Yang, former Democrat presidential candidate and current New York City mayoral candidate, said non-citizens and 16-year-olds should have the right to vote, outlining his vision in a ”reforming democracy” press event Tuesday at Battery Park, reported the Daily Wire.
”Now how can we continue to invest in our democracy to make it better here in New York City. I think we should enable young people to vote starting at age 16,” he said, adding that young people ”don’t feel like their voices are being heard.”
”Studies have shown that the earlier … you cast a vote, the more likely you are to become a voter throughout your lifetime. So, if we invest in young people at age 16 and 17, then we are going to be strengthening our democracy in a very, very significant way,” he argued.
Yang continued:”The second thing we should do is expand the franchise to non-citizens, lawful permanent residents. Now we’re here in part inside the Statue of Liberty because New York City is a city of immigrants. I myself am the son of immigrants. … And immigrants form the core of so many of our neighborhoods and communities. There are approximately 622,000 lawful permanent residents, you probably think of them as green card holders, who are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. Their kids go to our schools. They supply many of the jobs that we rely upon. They should have a say in the future of their city, too.
”We can enable green card holders, lawful permanent residents, to be able to vote. And I’m so thrilled that Carlos and Margaret Chin, who is another City Council member who’s endorsed me, have put forward [the] ‘Our City, Our Vote’ bill that would enable this to happen. … We should enable lawful permanent residents … to vote. This is their city, too. So young people, non-citizens, we have to invest in the mechanics of our democracy at a higher level,” Yang stated.
Yang, who rose to the limelight during the Democratic primary race by making a universal basic income (UBI) the central theme of his campaign, confirming to Breitbart News at the time that his plan would extend only to U.S. citizens, reported Breitbart.
“It goes to citizens,” Yang said at the time. “So, it would not go to undocumented immigrants.”
Source: Newmax
