Immigrants Raise Call for Right to Be Voters

NY Times ^ | August 9, 2004 | RACHEL L. SWARNS

[ECM]

This is getting ridiculous...

[swilhelm73]

Immigrants Non-Citizens Raise Call for Right to Be Voters

[Bogey78O]

immigrants....it used to be they fled their countries to get away. Now they come here just to screw everything up.

Looks like we need a Boxer Rebellion soon.

[Mrs Zip]

ping

[Carry_Okie]

Of course, when the OECD monitors our elections they will assume that illegals, felons, the dead, etc. should have the right to vote.

[CarrotAndStick]

PING! It will happen,'' said Tamrat Medhin, a civic activist from Ethiopia who lives here. "Don't you believe that if people are working in the community and paying taxes, don't you agree that they deserve the opportunity to vote?''

[staytrue]

Looks like we need a Boxer Rebellion soon.

The boxer rebellion resulted in a total humiliation of China by foreign powers. Perhaps a different analogy would be better.

I do agree that letting non citizens vote is absurd.

[Allegra]

This is wrong on so many levels.

The U.S. is finished as a sovereign nation if we allow noncitizens to vote in any election, whether it's on the local or national level.

[holyscroller]

If I had my druthers, only property owners would be allowed to vote. As it is, the recipients get to out-vote the taxpayers, (and there are more recipients every hour.)

[Allegra]

"Don't you believe that if people are working in the community and paying taxes, don't you agree that they deserve the opportunity to vote?''

Ummmm...no. Nobody forced you to come here. Go home if you don't like it.

I'm working in Iraq now and have been all year.

Ya think they'll let me vote in their national elections that are scheduled for next year?

Riiiiiiight....

[weegee]

When I visit someplace else I pay all sorts of taxes (gas, airport, hotel, sales tax, etc.). Should I be able to vote in their elections if they coincide with my visit?

Ignore their whiney demands.

[conservative in nyc]

Immigrants can alredy vote in local elections. They can immigrate here legally, reside here for 5 years, be of good moral character, speak English (unless exempt), pass the citizenship test and pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

Not a tough thing to do, if you think voting in local elections is important for your American citizen school age kids (one usual argument about why it's bad immigrants can't vote). You should be in the country about 5 years before they go to school anyway, if the kids are citizens because they are born here.

As for illegal immigrants, well, they should be voting back in their home country where they belong in the first place, before legally immigrating here.

[Coyoteman]

Well, we should all apply to vote in Mexico (if you throw out the rule of law in one place, why not everywhere?).

Lets see, 10%+ of the population of Mexico has come here, leaving about 102 million there (voting population much smaller). With well over 100 million voters we could rule Mexico by the same logic!

If not, why not?

If this ridiculous stuff can go one way, why not both ways? The rule of law, you say? Mexico does not permit us to vote? Well why not??????

Does this suggest something about letting Mexicans and others vote here? The details are left as an exercise for the student.

[skip_intro]

This is absolute insanity.

[Coyoteman]

Well, we should all apply to vote in Mexico (if you throw out the rule of law in one place, why not everywhere?).

Lets see, 10%+ of the population of Mexico has come here, leaving about 102 million there (voting population much smaller). With well over 100 million voters we could rule Mexico by the same logic!

If not, why not?

If this ridiculous stuff can go one way, why not both ways? The rule of law, you say? Mexico does not permit us to vote? Well why not??????

Does this suggest something about letting Mexicans and others vote here? The details are left as an exercise for the student.

[weegee]

California had better watch out. They are putting sales and income tax demands on all sorts of people who do limited business in California (everything from entertainers to people selling used items at collectible or antique shows), business that can come down to just a few days a year.

Since these people have a trade association with the state (which at one time hte legislature tried to extend to ALL further mail order sales to California) these entities should have a say in California government (which is certainly attempting to tax the rest of the nation, one person at a time).

[ETERNAL WARMING]

A friend was in the "Backroom" an hispanic bar last night. They were bashing Bush and registering voters. I asked him if he thought there were illegals present..he said, "most likely." This is in Las Vegas.

[zip]

In San Francisco, voters will decide in November whether to allow noncitizens - including illegal immigrants - to vote in school board elections. Efforts to expand the franchise to noncitizens are also bubbling up in New York, Connecticut and elsewhere. Several cities, including Chicago, and towns like Takoma Park, Md., already allow noncitizens to vote in municipal or school elections.

WTF???

[Clemenza]

Noncitizens were allowed the vote in New York City during the 19th Century. It was WRONG then and is wrong now.