When Chicago GOP's Tom Swiss alerted IR to the possibility that Cook County was sending voter registrars to a huge immigration rally this weekend, it reminded us of the serious allegations we ran across in 2006.
In August of 2006, we first realized the heated nature of registering illegal aliens to vote while working on a registration drive among churches in the 6th CD. When IR questioned a report in the Chicago Tribune about Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-4th CD) encouraging illegals to register to vote, a blog controversy erupted as Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights blasted us for daring to ask a question about illegal activity in voter registration.
Cal Skinner told the story of what happened with the ICIRR HERE, and comments led to more controversy as the ICIRR filed a complaint with DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett's office.
When asking specifically about voter registration details, the DuPage County's election board told me state law does not require immigration papers to register to vote, therefore election officials have no choice but to accept the registrants' word that they are legal. Cook County's election board agrees with DuPage: when registering using Motor Voter, no ID is required, but first time voters must provide two pieces of ID. Those two pieces of ID may be utilities bills, credit card bills or statements of residency.
This year, State Rep. David Reis (R-Olney) attempted to pass a state law requiring a driver's license or state-issued photo ID after the U.S. Supreme Court solidified such ID requirement as being constitutional.
The Democratic-led Illinois House Election committee rejected Reis' reasonable expectation along party lines, and at this time, anyone in Illinois who appears over 18 and willing to register will be able to vote in the November presidential race. Good luck to any election judge who dares to challenge their qualifications.
So to answer the question "who's qualified to vote" the law is specific -- one must be 18 or over and a citizen of the United States. The judges just can't ask any questions.
