Voting has been a privilege of American citizenship for a long time, but possibly not for much longer. Left-leaning groups are going all-in on their demands to allow noncitizens to vote, and Washington, D.C. has now joined them.

The D.C. City Council approved a bill to allow anybody, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, to vote in municipal elections if they have lived in the city for at least 30 days.

The plan is so harsh that even the normally liberal editorial board of The Washington Post described it as “radical.”

If Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., approves the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, an estimated 50,000 noncitizen residents, including those living in the country illegally, will be able to vote in local elections.

But there’s more. According to the Post, there is nothing in the bill that prevents overtly hostile foreign governments’ workers from voting. Or international students studying in Washington for a semester.” Our nation’s capital is prepared to dole out ballots to those who work against our nation’s interests.

Why is the district taking such a risky action? Pure politics.

The Left seeks to transform the nation’s politics by fundamentally altering who is eligible to vote. Even the Post recognizes that “progressives believe that altering the electorate would allow them to influence local politics, pushing D.C. farther to the left on issues such as rent control and social program expenditure.”

It is not just in Washington, D.C. that the left has grasped the influence that can be acquired by altering the electorate. Under the euphemistic banner of “expanding democracy,” left-wing campaigners around the country are campaigning to give the vote to incarcerated criminals, minors, and noncitizens, all of whom are more likely to be liberal, according to their calculations. Why allow the people to pick their government when the government can choose its people?

And there are several options available. Consider that more than 5 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States in the two years following the election of Vice President Joe Biden. Enfranchising them in local elections creates a huge perverse incentive for politicians to tolerate or even demand a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe at the border, so long as it provides a regular flow of temporary voters prepared to support a far-left agenda.

When the left is accused of supporting open borders in order to attract more voters, they respond that it is unlawful for noncitizens to participate in federal elections. True, but congressional and presidential elections are hardly the only ones that count.

Americans have witnessed firsthand the immense harm that may be caused when the radical left seizes control of school boards and municipal governments. According to the adage, all politics are local.

More on this story via The Daily Caller:

At least 15 municipalities nationally have enfranchised noncitizens to vote in local races, including major cities like San Francisco and New York. The Big Apple’s law is virtually identical to Washington’s pending measure: anyone in the city for 30 days can vote, including illegal aliens. CONTINUE READING…