Voter Fraud and Illegal Immigration

            Concerns about voter fraud and illegal immigration continue to build. San Francisco recently made it legal for illegal immigrants to register and vote in local school board elections. Democrats encourage illegal immigration in hopes to increase votes for liberal politicians.

            Readers were recently asked by The Daily Signal to share their thoughts on this question: “What’s worse, the Russians messing with our elections or us letting our guard down on the right to vote?” A reader named Michael Bowler shares his thoughts in a long message. 

A person who loses a local election by a few votes may never become the next mayor, then governor, then senator, and so on.

You get the idea. Elections can have far-reaching, difficult-to-identify consequences….

Someone who votes without eligibility, because a local or state authority decides it’s too much trouble to enforce the law – or, more insidiously, decides illegal voters will throw the election in a direction they prefer – is damaging the very democracy supposedly being defended….

Not only should voter ID laws be enacted and enforced, but punishments should be sufficient to deter those who engage in improper voting from seeking to do so….

            Bowler obviously believes that there should be voter ID laws as well as strict punishments for those who break the laws. Another response is from Teresa Barrett who asks a very important question: “Why is it not discrimination to require a photo ID to cash a check, get a library card, buy a car, buy a gun, get a passport, board a plan, buy cigarettes or liquor, and numerous other everyday activities, but is the height of evil against minorities to require the same to vote?” She is absolutely right when she says the Democrats are insulting minorities when they believe that they are “unable to secure identification to vote.” She says that it is racism to treat “minorities like children who aren’t able to function in society” without help from the government.

            This writer agrees with both Bowler and Barrett. There should be strict voter identification laws with appropriate punishments for those who break the laws. It is difficult to believe that any adult can function in modern society without an ID card with one’s picture on it. One cannot see a doctor, use a credit card, open a bank account, or visit the local Social Security office without a picture ID.

            Newt Gingrich, former Republican House Speaker, referred to San Francisco’s registering illegal aliens to vote for some elections and accused Democrats of using illegal immigration to gain voters. Most Americans can see the danger when people who are in the nation illegally have the right to vote on our policies and laws. Gingrich says that local governments have “no interest in enforcing the law when it’s being ignored by fellow Democrats.” He writes in his article as follows. 

The Californians who don’t support the radical views of Democrats can simply be eclipsed by non-citizen voters supporting the Democrats….

This, combined with national efforts to abolish ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has lead [led] to a showdown between federal and state governments, with law enforcement caught in the middle….

A sound immediate step would be for Congress to pass a law reaffirming that you must be an American citizen to vote in all American elections…. Let’s see how many Democrats would oppose this simple requirement.

            There is a very real danger that Americans could lose their constitutional freedoms. The most obvious way that they could happen would be through voter fraud. Americans must elect politicians who will protect and preserve the Constitution.