Burlington, Montpelier, and Winooski share a unique connection with Washington D.C. by allowing non-citizens to participate in local elections. D.C.'s Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act faces repeated challenges from Congress. Recently, a House measure seeking to repeal this law passed. Advocacy is ongoing to uphold this law, with Senator Peter Welch from Vermont expressing strong support. He emphasizes the importance of local autonomy in voting laws. This situation illustrates a larger trend among progressive local governments allowing non-citizen voting.
"What is really at stake here is the question of whether a law passed by the city council of the District of Columbia should be allowed to go into effect or be overwritten by action here," Welch said at the time. "This initiative has been something that has been taken up by other local governments in other States, where the prerogative is to make their own laws with respect to voting."
DC's Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act has been under consistent attack from Congress and drawn a lawsuit since the DC Council passed it in 2022; most recently, a measure to repeal the law sponsored by US Representative August Pfluger of Texas passed a House vote. The same thing happened last year, though the bill was never taken up in the Senate.
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