Posted on 07/10/2008 7:33:37 AM PDT by vietvet67
Amid all the talk of new voters becoming involved in the election, hopefully one group of voters will not vote in November — non-citizens, many of whom are illegally registered to vote all over the country, particularly in the southwest. Although there is no reliable method to determine the exact number registered aliens, there is evidence that this is a significant and growing problem.
The Government Accountability Office estimated that up to 3 percent of individuals called for jury duty from voter registration rolls in just one U.S. district court were not U.S. citizens. While that may not seem like a large number, it’s more than enough to tip close elections — say, Florida in 2000.. Florida has over a million illegal aliens, and the Justice Department has prosecuted non-citizens, including a state-legislature candidate, for voting there. In California, a congressional seat came within 200 votes of being stolen in 1996 by non-citizens’ voting; a city councilmember was permanently disqualified from public office for soliciting non-citizens to vote in Compton in 2001.
After a grand-jury investigation of the 1982 Illinois governor’s race resulted in the conviction of aliens for illegally registering and voting, the U.S. Attorney estimated that there were 80,000 non-citizens registered to vote in Chicago. In 1985, the district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Services testified in the Illinois legislature that 25,000 illegal and 40,000 legal aliens remained registered in Chicago. The grand jury found that aliens registered so they could “obtain documents identifying them as U.S. citizens” and had used their voter registration cards “to obtain a myriad of benefits, from social security to jobs with the Defense Department.” More recently, Bexar County, Texas, found hundreds of aliens registered to vote, some of whom had voted in a dozen local, state, and federal elections, and Harris County found a Norwegian citizen who had voted in a state legislative race decided by only 33 votes. Similar accounts from other states such as Utah and Arizona demonstrate that this is a widespread phenomena.
The weaknesses of the current registration system are to blame. First, in order to make registration easier, federal laws do not require proof of citizenship when registering, and states routinely offer registration to anyone getting a driver’s license, regardless of citizenship. Moreover, federal agencies in charge of immigration and customs enforcement refuse to comply with a federal law that requires them to cooperate with election officials in checking the citizenship status of registered voters. Overall, this amounts to an “honor” system — expecting immigrants, including those who broke the law to come here, to obey the law.
And even if an illegal alien would normally follow the rules, federal law provides an incentive for him to register to vote: Voter-registration cards, obtainable after a limited or no identification check, can be used to verify legal work status. They can also help when it comes to drivers’ licenses.
There are a number of solutions to this problem. The most important is that we must stop relying on an honor system, and require voters to provide proof of citizenship; election officials should have access to the government databases used by employers to verify the citizenship status of prospective employees. The federal government already uses these tools on everyone trying to get a job, negating the argument that proof of citizenship is discriminatory. Arizona, the only state that requires proof of citizenship to register to vote, has already turned away thousands of non-citizens who attempted to register — including almost 3,000 who tried to register when they applied for drivers’ licenses. State and federal courts should notify election officials when potential jurors are excused because they are not U.S. citizens.
Americans may disagree on many areas of immigration policy, but they should not disagree on the basic principle that only citizens should vote. Government officials have an obligation to enforce those laws.
— Hans A. von Spakovsky served as a member of the Federal Election Commission and as counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. His new study on “The Threat of Non-Citizen Voting” is available at www.heritage.org.
The time to start detecting and fighting vote fraud is now. I have published my own experiences:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1991953/posts
How interesting that certain “voters” can have it both ways: —
Participate in elections
and
at the same time
Beg off of jury duty
No Problemo! for some!
And that number doesn’t even take into consideration all the ‘dead’ democrats from Cook County that pull the “Dawn of the Dead” act every 4 years.
That will solve the problem in about 5 minutes. Of course, we'll probably end up with yet another dumb "solution" like the Motor-Voter Act or the Helping America Vote (sic) Act.
I called the Los Angeles County Registrar’s office and asked about this topic. They scoffed at me and said there is not enough manpower to enforce the laws against illegal aliens voting.
How intemperate of this author!
Does he not know that the new and improved GOP under a John McCain Presidency wants these criminals to be citizens and therefore we should not be saying anything negative about them?
Also, their God’s children, don’t you know per John McCain!
I’ve known a couple of leftist illegal aliens who claimed that they voted and claimed they had a right to vote because they owned a house in the US and because the elections of US politicians affected the world.
Illegals registering to vote, or actually voting, needs to be made a felony.
Actually, the time was Jan. 2001. Sadly, it is too late to have any bearing on this election.
The bureaucrats are covering up the problem because they know very well how vote fraud helps democrats. In the 1996 election I knocked on the doors of 200 registered voters in Orange County (Bob Dornan’s district). I discovered that 50% of the registered voters DID NOT EXIST!!! Organized, professional vote fraud is very profitable. The perps are PAID to win elections. Illegals aliens are an important part of the fraud, but our attack on vote fraud needs to be much broader. Now is the time to start checking voter rolls. BTW, I always thought that every phantom voter needs a subscription to the LA Times, Rolling Stone, etc. In this day and age it is much easier to discover which registered voter does not exist or is an illegal.
I helped a friend prepare for his citizenship test. One of the questions was “What is the most important right of citizenship?” Answer: the right to vote. Looks like whoever put the test together was citing the ideal rather than the reality, or was just b*llsh*tting, since the policies of the government itself obviously undermine this citizens’ right.
I say purge the voter registration rolls and start over. Require anyone wanting to register to provide a birth certificate or naturalization papers, a photo ID, and proof that they actually live where they say they live. Issue a voter’s registration card with a photo. If you don’t have all of that, then you won’t be voting.
The government taxes us, sends our children off to war, regulates our lives. I’m not saying I like that, but that’s the way it is. But on top of that, to have that goverment come to power through illegal means such as voter fraud is too much to take. To hell with that. That is not what America claims to be. If elections are just formalities that determine which oligarchs get to run the show and are not meant to choose a government of, by, and for the people, and so it doesn’t really matter how they are conducted, or who participates, then let’s at least be honest and say so.
In order to register, you must provide proof of citizenship and a finger print. (Amputees will be excused from the finger print requirement but a notation made on their registration card.)
We need to radically restrict early and absentee voting.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Voter registration cards in Mexico have a photo and a thumbprint. I wished we emulated them more.
wished=wish
ping
This is the Dimmycraps’ victory strategy.
Thanks to ACORN the Democrat roles are bourgeoning with illegals. Thanks to the Democrats, many places are not allowed to use available tools to remedy that.
While true that McCain favors amnesty, the issue at hand in this story are those that haven’t been granted amnesty are voting. Will Obama, Bob Barr, Ron Paul, ect do better? Who are these criminals voting for?
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