Who will be voting in November?

I’m not quite waiting with bated breath, but I will be interested in checking an upcoming report out when it’s released next week:

In this contentious election season, one thing that’s taken for granted is that American citizens will be the ones choosing the next president.

But a new paper from the Center for Immigration Studies reveals a concerted effort gathering force to allow new immigrants to vote without becoming citizens. It is being mounted by an alliance of academics and law professors, local and state political leaders, and community and immigration activists.

In his paper, Allowing Non-Citizens to Vote in the United States? Why Not, Dr. Stanley Renshon offers the first comprehensive review and critique of this growing movement. Dr. Renshon, a professor of political science at City University of New York Graduate Center, warns that decoupling the legal standing to vote from American citizenship would be a mistake for both immigrants and their new homeland. (Emphasis in original.)

However, given the ease with which illegal immigrants can get a driver’s license in Maryland and the fact that the preponderance of new voter registrations in the state come through the MVA, methinks that more than a few have already slipped through the cracks. And just wait until early (and often) voting is passed without the photo ID safeguards that are so important in maintaining a fair and fraud-free electoral process.

Obviously the vast majority of MVA workers are scrupulous about checking out those they give the voter registration cards to but it only takes a couple bad apples who continually flout the rules for their side’s gain to eventually bring the percentages up. If you presume that the vast majority of those who are illegal would favor Democrats (not much of a leap of faith there), eventually this practice could add up to stealing a point or two in some election – a difference that has been within the margin of several recent races. And since the Board of Elections makes the assumption that one is a citizen when they fill out a voter registration application, it’s up to the originator to ascertain citizenship.

So while the CIS is addressing the problem as if it’s a coming attraction, I think the movie’s already underway here in the Free State. I’ll still be curious to check this out and if I see more interesting stuff I’ll pass it along.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.