(AURN News) — Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and City Council Chair Phil Mendelson defended allowing non-citizen residents to vote in local elections during a House Appropriations Committee hearing this week.

"We have a lot of long-term residents here who have the ability to work, they have work permits, and that's one level of identification that I think is well proven," Bowser said. The mayor also emphasized the importance of including residents with temporary protective status, adding, “We think that people who live here, who pay taxes here, who raise their families here, who have mortgages here, who have jobs here, and have been here and come here with temporary protective status and other means, should have a pathway to citizenship. Those residents participating in a local election, I think, makes our process better.”

Mendelson drew a clear distinction between local and federal elections, stating, "Where we come from, our perspective is that these individuals, who may not be United States citizens, still are residents of the district, and they participate, as the mayor said, we want them to participate, if for no other reason than public safety purposes."

He also elaborated on the public safety aspect: "If there's some illegal activity or domestic violence, we want them to feel that they can report that. We need them to report that, and so we try not to discriminate against them. And if they are participating in our city, then, because we provide city services, we feel that they should have a voice in the election of the city."

Both officials emphasized that the voting rights are only limited to local elections, with Mendelson explicitly noting, "We make that distinction... because we're not saying they should participate in federal elections."

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