The New York City Council unanimously approved a municipal ID program for illegal immigrants that would allow them access to city services, and may have opened up an avenue for people residing in New York and the country illegally to vote in local elections.

Via the Observer:

The City Council voted overwhelmingly today to approve the creation of municipal identification cards that will allow immigrants living in the country illegally to access crucial city services.

Mayor Bill de Blasio will sign the bill into law, spearheading yet another piece of liberal legislation that would have likely hit roadblocks in the previous administration.

“It is a sound policy, it is humane policy,” Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito told reporters before the vote. “We can serve as a model for the rest of the nation today.”

Program implementation will cost the city $8.4 million in the coming year.

Illegal immigrants may now use the IDs for such services as banking, visiting a doctor, or signing a lease.

More concerning is the possibility that the new ID program will allow illegal immigrants to vote, completely undermining the integrity of elections.

Danny Dromm (D), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, had this exchange with Republican Senator Greg Ball in February:

The following is a portion of the debate transcript provided by Right Scoop:

DROMM: I have a piece of legislation that would allow non-residents to vote in NYC municipal elections…

Back and forth between Ball and Dromm

HOST: Let me ask you though, will the municipal ID be used for voting and can you vote if you have one of those?

DROMM: It’s a possibility, but that may be a way that we can try to find out who people are…

Back and forth between Ball and Dromm

HOST: But answer that question…could it be used for voting?

DROMM: We haven’t determined that yet but it’s a possibility that may be a way that we can have people, for the first time, when they come in to vote, if their non-residents, non-citizens, that may be a way that we could do it.

Earlier this month, Democrats introduced a bill called the New York Is Home Act, which would have blatantly provided voting rights to illegals.  While that bill was given no chance to pass, the approval of municipal IDs may have granted voting rights to illegal immigrants in a more subtle manner.

Why would Democrats want to give voting rights to illegal immigrants?

Perhaps Obama crony Eliseo Medina has the best look into the mindset of liberal lawmakers when it comes to immigration laws, or the lack thereof.

Medina previously served as a member of Obama’s National Latino Advisory Council and as honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.  As such, he used the platform of an America’s Future Now! Conference in 2009 to outline a plan for long-term Democrat rule through blanket amnesty.

“We reform the immigration laws; it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters. If we have eight million new voters who care about, and will be voting, we will be creating a governing coalition for the long term.”

Rest assured, Democrats won’t stop with municipal IDs in their pursuit of “a governing coalition for the long term.”