This District of Columbia made headlines last year after it passed a bill allowing non-citizens to vote. However, House Republicans are working to block the move. 

Victoria Marshall is a contributor for The Federalist, and she pointed out in a piece this weekend that Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution invests Congress with final authority over D.C.

Bill permits illegal immigrants to vote

Known as D.C. Bill 24.300, the legislation removes citizenship as a qualification for voting and instead simply requires that a voter have resided in Washington for at least one month. The House of Representatives voted last to override it by a margin of 260 to 173.

Marshall cited an article published by the Washington Post this past October which estimated that as many as 50,000 noncitizens could be eligible to vote under the legislation, including 21,000 people who are in the country illegally.

Jason Snead serves as executive director of Honest Elections Project Action (HEPA), and issued a statement praising the GOP's stance.

"I applaud the House for acting to ensure that foreign spies and illegal immigrants are not voting in the nation’s capital," Marshall quoted Snead as saying.

Legislation denounced as "extreme"

"Thanks to a Constitutional right and since the District is not a state, the House acted as it should have and has moved to stop this extreme and antidemocratic measure," he continued.

"The D.C. city council is pushing a measure that is wildly out of touch with the views of most Americans and is so extreme that even the Washington Post editorial staff call it 'radical,'" the conservative activist pointed out.

"Eighty-four percent of Americans agree that only citizens should have the right to vote. But D.C. Democrats want to run our elections like our borders and disregard safeguards that protect the integrity of the vote," he complained.

For his part, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy addressed the change to D.C.'s election laws along with a plan to cut the city's police budget during a speech last week.

McCarthy says allowing foreigners to vote will "dilute the vote of American citizens"

In 2020, Washington DC defunded the police. From that point on, the city government has done nothing but pass laws that have clearly made the city less safe. It's not right, and it must stop. https://t.co/cjYWSnEVKP

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) February 9, 2023

"A healthy republic has two basic duties: guarantee free and fair elections; and protect life, liberty, and property from violence," McCarthy told his fellow lawmakers last Thursday.

"Yet two new acts from the Washington, D.C. City Council would dilute the vote of American citizens and endanger city residents and visitors," the Republican leader declared.

Marshall noted that while President Joe Biden has expressed opposition to allowing non-citizens to cast a ballot, he has thus far given no indication of whether he will veto legislation to block D.C. Bill 24.300.