Posted on 05/09/2005 9:30:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
Stricter immigration laws now on the books in Arizona that require elections officials to check for proof of citizenship have uncovered thousands of new registrants who don't qualify to vote.
According to the Arizona Daily Star, state election officials credit the citizenship requirement contained in Proposition 200, the illegal-immigration initiative passed last November, for screening out the illegal voters.
In Arizona's Prima County alone, elections officials have rejected 59 percent of all applicants in the last two weeks - or 423 of the 712 new registrants.
"We rejected none during the same period last year," when six times as many people were registering because of the presidential election, said Registrar of Voters Chris Roads. "There was nothing in the law that required a rejection" last year, he explained.
Most voter registration forms rejected by Prima County since April 20, when officials started keeping track, were submitted by new voters who provided no valid proof of citizenship whatsoever, Roads said.
Despite the fact that it's illegal for non-citizens to vote, the rejections had Arizona Democrats up in arms.
Paul Eckerstrom, chairman of the Prima County Democratic Party, complained that forcing Arizona voters to prove their citizenship is "anti-American and anti-democracy,"
"It's just another obstacle for voters to deal with," Eckerstrom griped. "The whole idea behind this thing is to suppress voter turnout."
He said Proposition 200's "real intent," was to make it difficult for voters - especially those inclined to vote Democratic - to cast a ballot.
Illegals should not vote. I don't vote in Mexico.
I worked at the polls in the last election as the lone Republican amongst a viper's nest of Democrats -- all former school teachers. To a man (and woman) they opposed voter ID of any sort because they thought it was better to encourage more people to vote, even if they were really ineligible -- felons, non residents, non citizens, students voting twice, etc.
sigh...where to even begin with this.
This is racial profiling!
We desperately need a lot of things in California, but eliminating illegal voters is at or near the top. I haven't heard what the organizers of the failed "son of 187" proposition are up to now. Are they gathering money for another try or what?
How about a lot of us Freepers register absentee -- my California residence shouldn't disqualify me as an Arizona voter, should it? -- and then see how they feel about it.
I don't know if this is the same group, but check out:
http://www.rescuecalifornia.com
and click on over to read about the Border Police Initiative (authored by Ray Hayes-R) at
http://www.calborderpolice.com/
The 2006 election is going to be a mess. All American citizens regarless of party better wake up and understand, it is a foreign government that is trying to take over ours. The law is NOT important to them.
I've been following the Border Police issue closely and listened to Haynes being interviewed several times. I've read the initiative, and I don't know where he's getting the rosey predictions of all the wonderful things it'll do, like interior sweeps, prosecuting of businesses, detention prisons, etc. The language in the initiative is that the Border Police "can" do those things. The agency would be established and put under the Office of Emergency Services, which is headed by a gubernatorial appointee. That means the Border Police boss toes the governor's line or get bounced. Given how the current Border Patrol is forbidded from interior enforcement and going after businesses, why wouldn't a California Border Police be subjected to the same sort of restrictions by a governor (Arnold) who seems about as squishy on the issue as George W.? I'm willing to give this a try, given that nothing else seems to be working, but I'm not optimistic that Hayne's scenarios will actually come to pass. We'll probably end up with a state version of the federal Border Patrol: undermanned, ill equipped, badly deployed, and hamstrung by political considerations.
Well Arnold said it himself. If this issue is not resolved 'the people will rise up and do the job themselves'. I share your same concerns, but there is one thing we all must make clear, THIS is the number one 2006 ELECTION ISSUE period, at the state and federal level. People that do not stand up for the rule of law, must be turned out of office. We must deal with the illegal aliens that are here, and close the border until we do.
"Illegals should not vote. I don't vote in Mexico."
Well said, and I agree.
We should also take the priviledge away from non-profits like the League of Women Voters, ACORN, etc. that register people to vote. Everyone person who is eligible to vote should be required to show up at their county clerks office to register.
They've been pushing that crap unopposed for a long time.
That would be a nightmare. Surely there is a better way than that.
I was thinking the same thing. I would like to vote in a state that my vote will mean something in a close election. I will vote in NM instead of MA.
Anyone with even half a brain (which may exclude most Democrats and quite a few Repub.) should be able to figure out that El Plan de Aztlan includes overpowering communities with sheer numbers of illegals and then using the ballot box to get their agents elected. Look at the mess California is in with the likes of Villaragosa et al.......once these knuckleheads get elected it's all about "their community".....and we all know what that means.
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