Posted on 08/17/2018 12:34:09 PM PDT by JeepersFreepers
Conservative leaders are calling on the Texas governor to prevent non-citizens and other ineligible persons from voting illegally. According to a statement issued at today’s press conference, more than 280,000 non-citizens in Texas are registered to vote, with another four million registered voters in question.
Direct Action Texas (DAT), a watchdog organization known for exposing mail ballot fraud in numerous counties across Texas, released a statement today regarding its concerns. Aaron Harris, the group’s Executive Director, told Texas Scorecard:
“We are calling on Gov. Abbott to direct the Secretary of State to verify citizenship of all voter registrations. I see no reason for the governor to not implement this practical step to ensure the November election, and all future elections, are held with the integrity Texans demand. The governor could require that these changes be made tomorrow, if he so desired.”
Harris was joined at the event by JoAnn Fleming, Executive Director of Grassroots America: We the People (GAWTP). Fleming, a strong advocate for election integrity and conservative causes in Texas, had this to say:
“It’s a reasonable expectation that we Texans would demand that only citizens be allowed to vote. It’s time for the political finger pointing and excuse-making to end. We’re asking Gov. Abbott to continue fulfilling the promises he’s made to protect the integrity of the ballot box and take the next step to advance the success he’s already had in making Texas’ elections more secure.”
DAT and GAWTP have teamed up with the Texas Conservative Grassroots Coalition to pen a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott calling for swift action. As previously stated, Abbott can instruct the Secretary of State’s Office to verify the citizenship of persons registered to vote in Texas, and notify local county registrars of their findings.
The coalition letter reads:
“Unfortunately, Texans continue to see headlines of non-citizens voting in our elections. In Tarrant County, Rosa Ortega, a legal resident, non-citizen, had been voting for 10 years before being caught and convicted. In Beaumont, an El Salvadoran was indicted on multiple federal charges for having voted in the 2016 Presidential election…In a recent interview Starr County District Attorney Omar Escobar confirmed that non-U.S. citizens are on the voter lists in his county. He is quoted stating, ‘That non-citizens are registered to vote is beyond question. That non-citizens are voting in Starr County is also beyond question.’ They are registered and voting, the only remaining question is, how many.”
Furthermore, roughly four million – or 30 percent – of Texas’ 14.1 million registered voters cannot be found in Texas Department of Public Safety’s database, according to the coalition. It’s unknown how many of the four million are improperly registered and voting illegally.
In the 2017 legislative session, at the petitioning of the same conservative coalition, Abbott made election integrity a priority by including it in his special session call. Lawmakers acted, passing Senate Bill 5, which increased penalties for people who commit election crimes related to mail ballots.
Upon signing the bill into law on August 11, 2017, Abbott issued a statement declaring, “It is a primary function of government to protect citizens’ right to vote, and I will not allow the integrity of the ballot box to be compromised in Texas.”
“Citizenship verification in voter registration is a must for Texas,” says Logan Churchwell of Public Interest Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. “Non-citizens are accused of influencing local elections in the RGV and millions more can do the same by accident. Verification protects U.S. citizens and immigrants alike.” The Foundation has documented non-citizens registered and voting in several states, including Texas, and is suing Harris County in federal court for refusing access to public records of non-citizens found on the county’s voter rolls.
State Sen. Don Huffines (R–Dallas) has already committed to file legislation that would force the Secretary of State to verify citizenship of all registered voters. Similar legislation had previously been filed by outgoing State Sen. Van Taylor (R–Plano), but Republicans didn’t move the bill.
They must be stopped from voting.
How is that? If one has documentation of citizenship at registration, the fee is waived. If one doesn't, and later verification shows citizenship then the fee is refunded. If one doesn't have documentation and later verification shows fraud then the fee becomes a fine. No tax here, just fairness enforcing existing law.
Even attempting to charge a refundable fee would make it legally a poll tax per various court cases. This is not a new idea but has long since been shot down by the courts.
I still don’t see it as a tax, as it would be charged only if one does not provide proof of citizenship. It’s a fee charged for processing lookup of citizenship. Nothing new, additional charges levied for services rendered. If one arrives with requested documents for registering, then there is no fee, so no poll tax.
I’m sure. The lege had better deal with this problem sooner rather than later or Texas will look like Chicago.
In 2004 there were 57,500 registered both in Broward County, Florida and other states (NY,CT,MA, PA & WDC.
In 2016 there is an estimated 200,000 non-citizens registered in Florida. A study in one not heavily populated county, it was shown that many were routinely voting.
I believe Gov. Rick Scott DID NOT COOPERATE and allow the SoS to have the voting rolls purged. It’s a legit question for Pam Bondi to answer.
Heck, one Panamanian had voted 7 times in a few short years. Few seem to be prosecuted.
In Miami, votes are bought and sold - Latin American style. It’s quite a problem. At election time- the police erect billboards on the expressway- “10,000 Fine and face prosecution for fraudulent voting. They offer crime-stopper $tips for people that ID the perps.
In addition to that issue, there are workers within the Supervisor of Elections office and poll workers that should be busted:
1. Manufacturing ballots behind closed doors - filling out stacks of ballots!!!!
2. Discarding absentee ballots from R zipcodes
3. Intentionally opening R absentee ballots & separating from envelopes rendering them uncountable.
Oh, and there are some few hundred people found in one precinct registered to a parking lot address - all born in either in September or July. All with similar handwriting signature . If there were not Independent or Republican pollwarchers at that precinct, those bogus ballots would have been filled.
You can fill a book on the creative ways they find to cheat.
“You don’t register to vote at the federal level.”
Not true. Feds have a direct say in the registration process. Look up the FEC.
PING
Back to the thread and check out # 66.
Thanks, Beautiful_Gracious_Skies.
Bttt.
5.56mm
Thanks for this information.
Courts have explicitly decided that all fees (refundable or not) or skills tests (even non-political basic reading comprehension) are specifically a form of poll tax and are therefore unconstitutional.
You may not see it as a tax, but courts already say it is. This was last floated in IIRC the 1960s.
Would also point out that even non-political and voluntary cost recovery, such as poor counties soliciting donations at the polls to help cover the cost of ballots has been barred as an unconstitutional poll tax.
Again, your idea is not new and has already been shot down.
That's true.
But what is your objective posting that fact here?
He's a Republican appointed by Greg Abbott, after all.
The old definition of a “Texan” is coming true...just a Mexican on his way to Oklahoma....
And what does that have to do with anything. Abbott's better than Lupe the Lesbian or the Golddigger before her. But that's about all I can say.
Veterans are even further down the list.
She wasn’t supposed to lose.
Again, I don't see it as a tax as no one is charged any money if they abide by the law, which is that citizens with documentation can register to vote without being charged fees. Free. Many government offices charge fees for processing documents and searches, that is nothing new. Try getting a copy of a birth certificate. It's a service fee, not a tax.
Additionally, just because a certain procedure is in place does not mean it is right or valid. What comes to mind is people voting without any checks of their validity to vote per the law. California has taken it a step further by allowing illegals to obtain drivers licenses without checking legal documents. It may be current procedure, but is not right.
At least we have a decent voter ID law.
And that sh*t Bob Mueller and his team don't care because THAT COLLUSION HELPS DEMOCRATS. AND the press doesn't care because fraud that helps democrats is just fine with them... for the same reason.
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