“He thinks illegal aliens can vote? What an idiot.”
David Brock’s media watchdog group, Media Matters, spends its multi-million dollar budget trying to point out errors made by conservative talk show hosts and columnists. In yesterday’s edition, talk show host Michael Savage is accused of lying about illegal aliens and voting rights. Here is what Savage is quoted as saying on his July 26 show:
“I’ll go down the list of people who should not have the right to vote. Let’s start with illegal aliens. Should they have the right to vote? Course they shouldn’t, but they do. They’re being courted by the Democrats as we speak.”
The smug liberals at Media Matters respond: “Contrary to Savage’s assertion, the U.S. Constitution grants voting rights only to American citizens.”
This prompted one of Media Matters’ readers to comment, “He thinks illegal aliens can vote? What an idiot. Is he really worth taking seriously?”
I hate to burst their self-righteous bubble, but here in my home county, Montgomery County, Md., six cities (Garrett Park, Takoma Park, Somerset, Chevy Chase, Martin’s Additions and Barnesville) allow illegal aliens to vote in local elections. So do Amherst and Cambridge, Mass. A similar policy was proposed last month by Democrats in San Francisco.
Update: Reader EH writes: “For the record, the Maryland link you provide refers to “noncitizen immigrants” and “noncitizen residents”, but not specifically to illegal aliens, which is the term you chose to use to describe its effect. So it is not clear just from this link that those here illegally were meant to be included.”
Bingo. The “Share the Vote” referendum passed in 1991 was deliberately vague and made no distinction between illegal and legal “non-citizens.” But everybody knows (except, apparently, David Brock and his ostriches), as the Associated Press makes clear, that in the “The People’s Republic of Takoma Park…[u]ndocumented immigrants and other noncitizens can vote in city elections.” See also the New York Times and “Voter Fraud That’s Legal.”
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Add Portland, OR to the list. All of the county (Multnomah) actually. Local elections (wink, wink) only.
It may just be me but there is something very wrong when any government municipal/county/state or federal gives illegal aliens the right to vote in elections…it sends a twisted message to legal immigrants that citizenship has no value. sad commentary very sad
we’ve seen that those most actively pursuing the vote for illegal aliens, at least in the SF bay area, are those who would stand to gain the most from the votes that would most likely be cast by the illegals. and the media matters crew are as myoptic in their analysis as any they report on. just another lib/left wing cabal trying to twist the news to fit their perception of reality.
No, Savage didn’t say they could LEGALLY vote, only that they do. Best estimates are that 300,000 non-citizens are currently registered to vote here in California (see the House committe report on the Dornan-Chavez race, inter alia), and I doubt that many are Republicans.
When I moved to Oakland five years ago, I promptly registered by mail, and I have never once been asked for identification at the polls. Ever. I also, literally within days of registering, received a summons for jury duty, and have received another every year since. No ID requested there either, which kind of makes me wonder who’s sitting on our juries – but that’s another topic.
For the record, the Maryland link you provide refers to “noncitizen immigrants” and “noncitizen residents”, but not specifically to illegal aliens, which is the term you chose to use to describe its effect. So it is not clear just from this link that those here illegally were meant to be included.
But I would not be surprised if they were.
The San Francisco link says specifically that those here illegally are meant to be allowed to vote; as I recall this was to be restricted to school matters, but I may be wrong about that.
Of course ‘noncitizens’, especially illegal aliens, should not be allowed to vote, at any time, on any matter. And since knowledge of English is required for citizenship, taxpayers should not be footing the bill for non-English ballots etc, as they do now in many places.
Oops. On second reading it does appear that Savage was talking about illegals voting legally. May be a distinction without a difference, however, since the voting takes place with or without legal sanction.
And I do know how to spell “committee”. PIMF.
EH makes an excellent point about the non-English ballots (and voter guides, etc.). Just why ARE they needed?
David Brock doesn’t have a clue of what he’s talking about. It’s a sad day in our country’s history when we need watchdogs to watch over the watchdogs.
http://expertise.blogdrive.com
The very oily David Brock should concern himself more with the fact illegals are voting (illegally of course) than with what Michael Savage has to say.
Savage is so far above Brock’s level (he is a PhD. after all) that Brock would need a step-ladder just to reach up and shine his shoes.
Brock’s problem with Savage is that Savage doesn’t buy into the radical gay agenda. And being a radical gay, Brock just can’t handle it.
Yo soy George W. Bush y yo apruebo este anuncio.
You really should consider moving to Fairfax County, Virginia. Montgomery County lite: All of the ridiculous taxes, less of the liberal guilt.
All of this is just another example of the LLL’s pandering to a block of potential new voters, ie. illegal immigrants. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed to see GWB pandering to them as well. Why should anyone bother to go through all of the time and effort to become a US citizen anymore? All this crap really cheapens the value of what was once coveted US citizenship. Just my $.02 worth.
Was LA’s comment meant to imply that all Spanish-speaking Americans are illegals?
That is a concern that I have in Texas. On the voter registration card it asks if you are a citizen. It does not ask for any proof, that I can tell.
I think it would be extremely easy for a non-citizen, legal or illegal, to vote.
So, you’re suggesting the DNC is courting the illegal immigrant _local_ vote? Does that even make sense? Why would the party spend money getting friendly school board members into office?
Also, what does that mean “courted by Democrats?” Are local council members taking illegal aliens out to dinner? Are they promising them a green card? Let’s get real, here.
1. Natural born citizens, in this country, grow up learning how to read, write, and speak english.
2. Naturalized citizenship requires competency in reading, writing, & speaking english before citizenship is granted.
3. Why are ballots in any language other than english?
4. So that illegal aliens, who don’t speak, read, or write english can vote in our elections.
5. So what’s the most worthless thing in this country? U.S. Citizenship!!
Unless the waiting period for citizenship has been waived or abolished, it would seem to me that any naturalized citizen would have more than enough time to learn English before he or she became eligible to cast that first ballot.
And given fluency in English greatly expands one’s prospects for economic success in the United States, it is something Local, State and Federal Government should encourage every way possible.
Providing ballots in any language other than English only encourages the further balkanization of our country into various racial, ethnic & national blocs.
Michael “Savage” Weiner is basically right on this issue, but overall, he’s almost as big of a liability to the right as Brock was in the 1990s. These two jerks deserve each other.
Motor voter — The Colorado Springs gazette ran a feature years ago about a VISITING Japanese journalist who presented his passport as ID for his driver’s license and got registered to vote. When they asked him, he thought they were joking. We should all be so lucky.
Myself — I have a pretty strong accent, but no one has ever asked me for proof of citizenship whenever I moved and registered to vote.
It seems they think I would be “hurt” and “insulted” by being singled out for a demand of proof (At least this is what I’ve heard as the justification to not ask anyone for ID.) They claim asking everyone for ID is impractical.
Heck, I KNOW I have an accent and five or six people ask me where I’m from everyday. If I were as fragile as our legislators think I am, I’d never leave the house.
I can tell you I’d feel A LOT safer if they asked. I don’t mind taking my passport or my citizenship certificate or both when I go register to vote.
As is, I wonder what kind of country this is going to be for my kids. You know what they say about Rome and bread and circus. But at least they didn’t let the germanic mercenaries vote.
1) Thanks to Motor Voter, all an illegal alien has to do is check a box to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license in the states that allow a Mexican matricula consular or Tax ID number as an acceptable form of ID to obtain a driver’s license. Same applies to lawful permanent residents getting a drivers license. The likelihood of this assertion that he is a US citizen of getting cross-checked or verified is slim to none, the likelihood of being prosecuted by the county of feds for registering to vote – or voting – is even less. It’s a pretty safe bet that illegals – or immigrants, both of which are prohibited from voting (not counting local/municipal elections) – are voting.
Time for a national policy of proof of citizenship to vote and national ID cards.
I’ve been an election judge. In the training I discovered that it is illegal to ask for proof of citizenship at the polls. Further, it’s illegal to demand picture ID to go with voter registration cards.
It wasn’t the Republicans that passed those rules.
It is the Donks crying loudly at (very difficult to actually produce) disenfranchised voters while every election cycle they disenfranchise thousands of actual voters through fraud. This is not hype, either. Every example of Chicago’s miraculous return of the dead voters means that someone’s vote was cancelled out. Every fraudulant vote disenfranchises someone. The Donks are the Party of vote fraud, the Party of disenfranchisement.
In Washington State the voter registration form requires that you indicate whether you are a citizen or non-citizen (if you check NO you should not complete the form). You are required to provide your driver’s licence or ID card number (both of which are available to illegal aliens) and your address and that’s it.
You can download and mail in the form and, thanks to Washington State Law, you can check off the “permanent absentee ballot” box and never have to go to enter a polling place, your ballot will be mailed to you instead.
So what’s to stop illegal aliens from voting? Why, the BOLD RED FONT that warns you it is a Class C Felony to lie on this form!
“I hate to burst their self-righteous bubble, but here in my home county, Montgomery County, Md., six cities (Garrett Park, Takoma Park, Somerset, Chevy Chase, Martin’s Additions and Barnesville) allow illegal aliens to vote in local elections.”
Media Matters is still correct. The constitution only grants the right to vote to citizens. Of course, it doesn’t stop immigrant cities from deciding that, say, those who have kids in school can vote for school board, or beach towns deciding that those who own property but aren’t full year residents can vote for city council.
In many areas, citizenship doesn’t matter when it comes to voting. When I moved from East Coast to LA County, I was asked to register to vote at the DMV when I got my license switched. At that time, I was a green card holder – so my reply was, I can’t, I’m not a citizen. Said DMV employee, it doesn’t matter. A few weeks later at a town carnival, there was a voter reg. drive for the 2000 election. I was asked same question, gave the same answer, and was told again – doesn’t matter, no one checks – you are here, you should vote.
Jump up to 2002 election season, in a San Fernando Valley shopping center, a group was seeking voters to register. I was asked if I was registered, and then to register. Gave same answer as before – was told again, doesn’t matter – no one checks. So, this time, I said great, I’ll register Republican. The shocked person said, oh, no! You can’t do that!. I reported this organization to the LA County Board of Elections but never heard anything more of it.
4 months later, I was naturalized, and legally registered to vote at that time.
The law says only US Citizens are permitted to vote. This isn’t enforced, and many areas (but mainly one party) look the other way. When people talk about voter fraud – this is the fraud that needs to be stopped.
Relax, people. It’s no different than the crap Kathleen Harris and Jeb Bush pulled in the 2000 Presidential election.
Both parties engage in this.
That’s why we should have a multi-party system.
I’m a Green. You Cons should join the Libertarian Party and show these Republican schmucks that your vote is worthy of more respect.
Somebody say Aliens? I hope they’re intelligent. And Humanoid. And Sexy! (like that green woman in episode #71)
Sandi:
“1. Natural born citizens, in this country, grow up learning how to read, write, and speak english.”
I have a friend who is natural born and learned english as a second language.
“3. Why are ballots in any language other than english?”
Because government depends on the consent of the governed, not the other way around.
“Media Matters is still correct. The constitution only grants the right to vote to citizens.”
The federal constitution doesn’t specifically grant or authorize suffrage for anyone, since elections are conducted at the state level (and the vote was generally far more restricted than just to US citizens when it was adopted). I would guess that some state constitutions spell out requirements for voting and others probably do not, thus leaving the matter in the hands of their legislatures and/or even letting local governments decide.
In the eexercise of both its plenary authority over immigration, and to condition the receipt of federal funds, Congress surely has the power to step in and stop this: non-citizens should not be voting, period. Voter registration should require both proof of identity and proof of citizenship (birth certificate, passport or certificate of naturalization); while this wouldn’t stop all of it, it would cut it back dramatically, since as it is you don’t even NEED forged documents to vote illegally.
As for voting ballots in a language other than english….
Like I mentioned in another thread before, the Immigration Service has the most strict laws of any branch in law enforcement, but it also has the most waivers. This includes people becoming United States Citizens. An example of this: If you are over a certain age, I think it’s in the 50’s, you can get a waiver and are not required to speak english to become a citizen. Perhaps this goes under the, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” clause.
So there are lot’s of people who have become United States Citizens without having the knowledge to speak english.
Well if the Constitution forbids it, it can’t possibly be going on, especially in places where they are so diligent about defending the Constitution that they consider it unconstitutional to check ID.
As Dave J. pointed out, the US Constitution leaves the question of voting rights up to the states, with provisions that said rights may not be abridged because of age (above 18), race, sex, national origin, etc. So a state could authorize non-citizens to vote in any election, including the federal elections that they conduct.
To the best of my knowledge, there isn’t any state that does authorize this.
Arizona is in the process of certifying an initive (called Protect Arizona NOW) to REQUIRE proof of citizenship to register, and REQUIRE one picture ID or two “other” ID’s to vote. Our gender confused governor and that idiot, UN loving Raul Grijalva (D-Tucson); are going into coniptions over this. It will almost certainly be certified for the Nov ballot, and a recent AZ Republic opinion poll cited something like 75% apporval for it’s passage. Keep in mind that the Republic is a Gannet paper and a total TOOL of the Democratic party in AZ
Check it out: http://www.pan2004.com
Even Better!, the poll was conducted by our local PBS station!:
_______________________________
NEW POLL SHOWS SUPPORT – DECREASING OPPOSITION TO PAN INITIATIVE
A just-released poll conducted by Dr. Bruce Merrill for KAET-TV/Channel 8 and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University shows that support for the Protect Arizona Now [PAN] citizens initiative has risen to 74% today from 70% in September, 2003, with “undecideds” holding steady at 10%.
The question posed was the same as the previous question:
In November, an initiative may be on the ballot called Protect Arizona NOW. This initiative would deny state and local social and welfare services to illegal immigrants and require everyone who registers to vote to prove they are U.S. citizens and to provide identification when voting. Will you probably vote for or against this proposition?
for: 74%
against: 16%
don’t know/no opinion: 10%
total: 100%
PAN founder and Chairman, Kathy McKee, states, “It is wonderful to have our personal experience, which is that the overwhelming majority of Arizonans love our initiative, validated by such a highly respected poll.”
Even Better!, the poll was conducted by our local PBS station!:
_______________________________
NEW POLL SHOWS SUPPORT – DECREASING OPPOSITION TO PAN INITIATIVE
A just-released poll conducted by Dr. Bruce Merrill for KAET-TV/Channel 8 and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University shows that support for the Protect Arizona Now [PAN] citizens initiative has risen to 74% today from 70% in September, 2003, with “undecideds” holding steady at 10%.
The question posed was the same as the previous question:
In November, an initiative may be on the ballot called Protect Arizona NOW. This initiative would deny state and local social and welfare services to illegal immigrants and require everyone who registers to vote to prove they are U.S. citizens and to provide identification when voting. Will you probably vote for or against this proposition?
for: 74%
against: 16%
don’t know/no opinion: 10%
total: 100%
PAN founder and Chairman, Kathy McKee, states, “It is wonderful to have our personal experience, which is that the overwhelming majority of Arizonans love our initiative, validated by such a highly respected poll.”
It’s tangential, but Kevin P’s comment also reminds me that a state could set its voting age below 18, just not above it. I don’t think any state does, though I believe that some of the same localities that routinely allow illegal aliens to vote have also pushed to lower their voting age (and maybe even did so?)
Just what we need: not just illegal aliens, but illegal alien TEENAGERS voting.
Truth Alert:
Illegal aliens are not granted the right to vote under the Tacoma Charter but further qualifies that non-citizen voters must conform to the provisions within both the Maryland Constitution and its Annotated Code:
Section 603 Registration
(a) Any resident of Takoma Park who is a United States citizen may register to vote at the Board of Elections supervisors for Montgomery County any time these offices are open for
business or by mail. Registration shall be permanent unless such registration shall be canceled as provided by state law. No person is entitled to vote unless properly registered.
(b) Any resident of Takoma Park who is not a United States citizen, and who is otherwise qualified to be registered as a voter in any election) pursuant to Article I, Section I of the Constitution of Maryland, and Section 3-102 of Article 33, as amended, or any equivalent provision(s) of the Annotated Code of Maryland, may register with the City Clerk, who shall
maintain a separate voter roll from the existing voter roll generated by the Montgomery County Board of Elections, to include the names of those non-United States Citizens. The City Clerk
shall promptly send notice to any jurisdiction in the United States, if any, where the new registrant was formerly registered, requesting the cancellation of said voter’s prior registration.
“Illegal aliens are not granted the right to vote under the Tacoma Charter..”
Tacoma is in Washington State. Takoma Park is in Maryland. That quibble aside, no, the municipal charter doesn’t authorize illegal aliens to vote. Do you actually believe that that alone means they don’t?
See the website for LAWatchdog. Hal Netkin has pointed out that anyone can vote in the new elections being held sometime in September in Los Angeles. Newly added wording does not prevent Aliens, legal or illegal from casting ballots in a local election for neighborhood councils. How about us registering for Mexico’s upcoming presidential election. I’m told mr. fox is wanting to gather voters here in the northern territories for that election. What’s to prevent us from registering here? Anybody know how?
Permitting illegals to vote is the same as saying they are the legitimate equal to an American Citizen. In our cherised representative form of government a citizen’s right to vote was sacrosanct. The open borders lobby(abject ANTI-American insanity in post 9-11 America)knows this. the best way to steal a nations future is to steal their past first, hence the state of education today…if kids have no connection to our history there is nothing for them to bond to or believe in in a national or societal sense(me generation, anyone?)after a historical sense of belonging being severed the next best target is the very act that defines the rights of the citizen the act of voting. Those who advocate voting for non-citizens are deliberatly spreading confusion, chaos and in a very real sense are attacking and attemtping to cheapen supreme act that defines our representative form of government(just as others are attacking marraige)