Op-Ed: How Republicans are tossing Democratic ballots
A few weeks ago, I asked Republicans to show their cards and give me a reason why they believe that illegal immigrants should not be able to vote in U.S. elections.
They gave me two reasons: first, to make it impossible to turn down votes from the 1.3 million illegal immigrants currently registered to vote in the U.S. who are eligible to vote but somehow won’t take their place among the millions of citizens who could vote. Second, illegal immigrants would be too busy running for office to vote, and the government will have to spend millions more to educate, provide services and run the government for decades.
How are Republicans tossing Democratic ballots?
I’m glad you asked, because that’s what Republicans are doing.
Consider how some Republicans have taken the bait, because they know that there are hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants registered to vote who are eligible to vote in the same way as citizens, but won’t take their places among the millions of citizens who could also vote.
For example, there are approximately 500,000 illegal immigrants currently registered to vote, but who will not, because they don’t know how to fill out an American-style voter registration form. These are illegal immigrants who are registered in another country with an American consulate, or who are registered in another country and are working legally with an American employer. Many of the thousands of illegal immigrants who are not eligible to vote because they are not American citizens live in California and New York, and also in Colorado, Florida, Texas and other states.
So, of the 500,000 illegal immigrants who are eligible to vote, roughly half — or 250,000 — are registered in another country.
How many more illegal immigrants are registered in the U.S.? There are another 6,500,000, or 30 percent.
Most of the remaining illegal immigrants are registered in a state other than California.
To understand how Republican “ballot stuffing” is undermining democracy, one
