by Fran Eaton
This immigration issue should remain on the front burner. Yesterday I wrote that Illinois conservatives need to understand the urgency of determining the best way to deal with illegal aliens. It is quickly emerging as one of the top three issues in the 2006 election cycle.
Over the weekend, several hundred immigrant rights leaders gathered in Hillside to discuss blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants and a moratorium on deportations being enforced by the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security.
The conference was conducted completely in Spanish and interpreted through headphones into English. From a Chicago Tribune account . . .
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) told participants they must focus on electoral strategies after mobilizing hundreds of thousands in the Loop and elsewhere. Gutierrez said he has given up hope that Congress will pass immigration reform before the November elections.
"It's nice to have marches. I go to all of them," Gutierrez said. "But there is something that has to happen after a march. You register to vote. Congress will only move when it is in fear of losing power."
Gutierrez encouraged illegal immigrants to register to vote.
How does this work? In order to register to vote, the Motor Voter Registration form simply asks the applicant to sign, stating he or she is a citizen of the U.S., 18 years old, a resident of the precinct for the last 30 days and not a felon. On one county form, the Social Security number (or last four digits) is requested. On another county's form, a driver's license number is requested.
I asked a DuPage County elections official how they would check whether a person registering to vote was a citizen of the U.S. She said that they have no choice but to accept the word of the person who registered. If there was any suspicion that the voter was not a citizen of the U.S., an election judge at the polling place could file an objection when he or she comes in to vote.
I asked if there was anything in the new federal Voting Rights Act that would intimidate election judges from objecting to a person's voting qualifications, and she said she couldn't answer that question.
The ramifications of this confusion over election law and its enforcement, as well 22 people working fulltime with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights to register voters for the November 2006 election, should concern anyone interested in ballot integrity and election results.
