AZ Officials argue on stronger ID requirements for voting
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Officials argue over whether stronger ID requirements needed
Aug 4, 2006 07:47 AM PDT
Government officials argued Thursday that stronger voter identification is needed to prevent illegal immigrants from casting ballots, while others asserted such a problem doesn't even exist and strengthening voting requirements would only alienate minority voters.
The arguments were part of testimony in front of the U.S. House Committee on House Administration at an immigration field hearing here.
The committee held a similar hearing earlier Thursday in New Mexico.
"It is true, of course, that it is illegal for non-citizens to vote in our elections," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., chairman of the Administration Committee. "But simply making something illegal does not prevent it from happening; if it did, no one under the age of 21 would drink alcohol and no one would rob banks."
Last year, 10 people who were not U.S. citizens were indicted on charges of filing false documents after trying to register to vote, testified Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.
Thomas' office is looking into 149 other cases in which non-citizens allegedly registered to vote. He said records show 37 non-citizens seeking to become U.S. citizens have successfully registered to vote and 15 of them have voted.
"These numbers do not tell us how many illegal immigrants have registered to vote," Thomas said, adding that "the right to vote is arguably our most sacred constitutional right."
"This right is reserved for our citizens," he added. "When non-citizens vote in American elections, they are undermining our right to self-government."
In 2004, Arizona voters passed Proposition 200, an initiative requiring voters to prove their citizenship before casting a ballot. It also denied some government benefits to illegal immigrants.
Legislation similar to Arizona's law is pending before the House Administration Committee. It would impose voting restrictions at the federal level.
Opponents of the Arizona law say it has stopped eligible voters from casting votes.
Karen Osborne, Maricopa County director of elections, said in 15 elections in March 2005, 177 people out of 71,306 were turned away at the polls because they lacked proof of citizenship. Out of those turned away, 62 returned with identification while 115 did not return, she said.
There is no way to know whether those who didn't return were illegal immigrants trying to vote or U.S. citizens who simply forget or did not have ID.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., denounced the hearing as instilling fear and hysteria in the immigrant community, marginalizing people based on race, national origin, income and disabilities. He said the U.S. Congress is avoiding the complex issue of immigration reform.
"This hearing is not about voter fraud," Grijalva said. "The real objective is pretty transparent to me. The leadership of this Congress wants to maintain its majority."
Ehlers denied the hearings are politically motivated, saying he is concerned about voter fraud outside of illegal immigration.
Outside the hearing, an illegal-immigrant-rights group held raffles for the Hispanic community and registered new voters. They also criticized the hearing as nothing more than politicians putting on a show.
"The only fraud that is going on is the fraudulent attempt at creating the notion that somehow there are hoards of undocumented immigrants going to the voting booth," said Roberto Reveles, president of activist group Somos America, or We Are America.
The group helped organize a 100,000-person illegal-immigrant rights march in Phoenix on April 10.
"We're witnessing a dog and pony show that is simply trying to divert the public's attention from the inability of this Congress and this administration to act on what they have helped create as a national issue," Reveles said. "They are creating a national atmosphere of fear. They are promoting a campaign of terror among our people."
Alfredo Gutierrez, a former state senator and a local leader of the Hispanic community, said the hearing shows the committee members' discrimination.
"What you're here to witness is the demonization of a people, an attempt to demonize," he said. "But you know, we're not going to be demonized that easily. And it's going to take more than a silly committee of lazy people who don't want to do their responsibility and get on the business of immigration reform in this country. It's going to take more than that."
