Thread: Lax system allows noncitizens to vote

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/sto ... 45ed5.html

Lax system allows noncitizens to vote

Web Posted: 12/17/2006 12:00 PM CST

Brent Connett
Special to the Express-News

Luis Figueroa, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, claims MALDEF has been unable to find one confirmed instance in state records where an illegal immigrant has voted, making proposed voter identification requirements intrusive.

He argues they may even violate a person's civil rights.

In response to a public information request, however, the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute found that between 2003 and 2005, 303 noncitizens were removed from the voter rolls in Bexar County.

Before being canceled, 41 of those 303 noncitizens illegally cast ballots in bond elections, runoffs, primaries and general elections.

Similarly, Harris County Voter Registrar Paul Bettencourt testified before a congressional committee this summer that in 2005, he identified at least 35 foreign nationals who applied for or received voter registration cards. In fact, since 1992, Harris County officials have canceled 3,742 registered voters for noncitizenship. Most important, Bettencourt has records of noncitizens voting in Harris County.

Disturbingly, the noncitizens removed from the voter rolls were identified mostly because they refused jury duty by admitting they were not citizens.

At minimum, the Bexar and Harris district attorneys are obligated to investigate and possibly prosecute these proven instances of vote fraud. An applicant must attest, under penalty of perjury, that he is a citizen to register to vote. Clearly, that law has been violated.

But given the potentially alarming magnitude of the problem, the attorney general should be authorized to conduct a statewide investigation to determine if there is an organized effort to register noncitizens.

The reason that vote fraud is very possibly widespread is because Texas election law sets the bar for voter registration and verification far too low.

The secretary of state checks voter registration applications against drivers' license and Social Security databases. However, both Social Security numbers and drivers' licenses can be obtained by noncitizens

Furthermore, the secretary of state notes that an applicant may register even without a drivers' license or Social Security number by supplying a utility bill or pay stub. Any person, including noncitizens, can pay for electric service; any one with a green card can work and earn a paycheck. Those documents do not prove citizenship.

The secretary of state's office admits that, under existing Texas law, "there is no formal verification of an applicant's citizenship status." Instead, our voter registration system naively relies on the honesty of all participants instead of verifying citizenship.

It is a dangerous leap of faith to assume that illegal immigrants are not registering to vote or even voting, especially in light of recent reports of clear and overwhelming evidence of document fraud among illegals.

Given the gravity of the right to vote and the imperative to preserve the integrity of our elections, the 80th Legislature should enact two pieces of "Verify the Vote" legislation.

First, the Legislature should require voters to present photo ID at their polling place on Election Day that proves their citizenship. A passport, newly issued driver's license or Texas ID card or certified copy of a birth certificate, along with a photo ID, should be the only acceptable forms of proof. Minimally, the Legislature should expressly preclude the use of utility bills and pay stubs as identification for voting purposes.

Second, pursuant to the congressional REAL ID Act of 2005, the Department of Public Safety will have to verify and record proof of citizenship from applicants for all new and renewed drivers' licenses and Texas ID cards. Texas should simply take the next logical step by requiring all new or renewed drivers' licenses and ID cards to clearly display whether the holder is a citizen.

Since all licenses have to be renewed every six years, the 14 million driver's license holders over the age of 18 can transition to the new form of ID by the end of 2014.

The most paramount of our democratic rights, the right to vote, is guarded indifferently. The U.S. and Texas Constitutions are clear: Only citizens have the right to vote. In practice, however, our polling places are just as porous as our borders.

With an estimated 1.6 million illegal immigrants in Texas, the state can no longer afford to leave our election system susceptible to vote fraud and manipulation.

Brent Connett is a policy analyst with the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, an Austin-based think tank.

It's easy to do in TX. I could get a voters registration card and vote an never prove my citizenship beyond checking a box.

Dixie

This is outrageous! One of our main rights is to vote and even that is being trampled on. Why do I often feel like our government officials want to give our country away in about every direction I turn nowadays?

jean,

I've been having a cow about this for months. I'm glad an article finally came out about it. I've received letters from Sec. of State from last summer. Our Legislator need to get jiggy with it and catch up to Arizona and Colorado.

Texas has a problem and it needs to be fixed now! The changes need to be in effect prior to the 2008 Presidential Election.

I'm sure California has a similar problem. Hint, hint!

Dixie

Dixie said:

I'm sure California has a similar problem. Hint, hint!

You can say that again! We're so lucky eh?

I heard Chris Simcox mention a couple weeks ago that Judicial Watch was investigating some possible incidents of voter fraud in this last election, though he didn't give any details. It will be interesting to see what they find.

Now one of out birth rights as U.S. citizens is even stolen by these invaders. Our Vote! Add it to our identities lost also.