No, it’s bad.
Left Loses Big in Citizenship-Verification Supreme Court Case
If I understand what this article says, people can register to vote using the federal form and lie about their citizenship (or can register in the names of other people altogether). Then they can vote absentee, as an increasing number of voters do, and there is no way to check their eligibility.
It sounds like it is really bad.
I don't think the government has the resources or the will to follow through with investigating those who are not honest.
So basically the Federal form says are you a US citizen and you say “Si”. :-)
They don't even have to have a suspicion - they can legally just go on a fishing expedition with no 4th amendment protection requiring probable cause.
But the state cannot require someone to prove they are legally eligible to vote before they can register to vote. So even illegals can register to vote as long as they are willing to lie and can fill in the registration form with realistic sounding information.
From the article:
"The Court ruled the way it did because there is already a federal law requiring people to affirm that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote."
There are also laws against crossing into the US illegally and living here illegally but that hasn't stopped somewhere between 11 million and 35 million illegals from doing just that.
So the legal protection to maintain the integrity of the voting process is essentially an "honor system" - illegals can register without having to prove they are eligible.
Once they are registered to vote they can be required to provide ID to prove they are the person who previously registered to vote, even though that person may not actually be legally eligible to vote.
So the state can only challenge a voter if it appears they are not the person previously registered, but the state can not require proof of eligibility to vote except as follows:.
"The Court specifically noted that under our Constitution, states have the exclusive right to determine the qualifications of voters in federal elections, and Arizona can deny registration to anyone who submits a federal form if it has other information in its possession that establishes the ineligibility of the applicant.".
Rather than protecting the integrity of the voting system it appears the Supreme Court is more interested in maintaining a process designed to make it easy for an illegal to register and difficult for the state to challenge their eligibility.
This is the clearest explanation I have seen. My question what is the recourse within a state when a person affirms on the federal form to be a citizen and they are not? With the case in Indiana where the woman is going to jail, the damage is already done.