by Mark Rhoads
In the 1960s, there was a well-known story around the country about the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. He was one of only three surivors that included Daley, Senator Paul Douglas, and Gov. Otto Kerner when their plane crashed on a desert island with only food and water enough to sustain one man until help could arrive. Douglas said he should have the provisions because he was a high-ranking federal official. Kerner said a governor could appoint a senator and therefore protocol said he was higher in rank. The mayor suggested that they settle the matter by taking a vote and Daley won 9 to 2.
The post below asks the question "Could Non-Citizens Steal an Election?" In theory, yes. But the question needs a little more explanation because anti-vote fraud laws and regulations in Illinois and other states are almost never self-enforcing. Fraudulent registrations and fraudulent votes usually need to be challenged in an effective adversarial system between two parties. Due to the weakness of the Illinois Republican Central Committee, such a system does not now exist in Illinois to a sufficient degree so as to guarantee legal voters that their votes will not be substantially diluted by illegal votes.
The form that people fill out to register to vote in most counties and mucipalities is similar to that which is published by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. It is worth taking a minute or two to read that short form carefully because it explains very clearly that only U.S. Citizens over the age of 18 on election day are entitled to vote in an election in Illinois. The form also states that if a person gives false information on the form, they are subject to prosecution for perjury or to deportation from the United States. CLICK HERE to read the form.
During the first 79 years in the life of the United States Constitution, the definition of citizenship was left a little vague other than by reference. It was not until ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868 that the Constitution spelled out that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of live, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
By the time Ohio became the 38th State to ratify the 26th Amendment in 1972 (that lowered the age to vote in all states to 18) it was clear once again that the right of suffrage was specifically granted only to people who were citizens. "The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."
Article III, Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 says again "Every United States Citizen" shall have the right to vote in Illinois elections. Those persons convicted of a felony or otherwise in jail or prison shall lose their right to vote until sentence is completed. The General Assembly determines by law how to verify who is a permanent resident but the duration of residency in Illiniois, because of court decisions, it down to only thirty days.
For those readers of IR who have complained in the past about the REAL ID Act of 2005, it might interest them to know that Illinois has signed on to a plan of implementation in April to upgrade the security of Illinois drivers licenses and that one of the federal requirements released in January 2008 is that an applicant for a driver's licence must be able to prove that they are a U.S. Citizen or at least legally present in the country and the state. In other words, the burden of proof falls on the applicant.
There is one more federal law that readers of IR should know about. That is the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. That law makes it a federal crime to "conspire to dilute the votes of legal voters" in all states. It is still the job of the State to register voters and administer elections. But if a person or persons engage in a conspiracy to cast fraudlent votes by non-Citizens, then those persons may be prosecuted under federal also and not just state law.
But again, none of these laws can be self-enforcing. The original post used the phrase "honor system" for registration. That is not quite accurate. The affidavit filled out by someone who wants to register to vote is similar to many such forms. It is not up to the County Clerk or Election Administrator to individually verify the citizenship of every applicant. The General Assembly by law could require County Clerks to do that, but it would be very expensive. The clerks do not have the time and people and money to take on that job at present. But the political parties can hire attorneys who can challenge registrations checked by volunteers. This is the gigantic gap in preventing vote fraud in Illinois by non-Citizens or anyone else. Unlike the REAL ID provision for an applicant for a driver's license, the burden of proof to show someone is NOT a citizen falls on the person or party that is challenging the validity of the voter registration.
Some non-Citizens who deliberately give false information on a voter registration form, and affirm that they are US Citizens when they are not, are willing to take the risk that they will not be caught or prosecuted to the maximum. But one public official who can, if he chooses, assign special attorneys to the task of uncovering "a conspiracy to dilute the votes of legal voters" in Illinois is Patrck J. Fitzgerald, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division in Chicago). One thing that IR readers can do is to flood Illinois community newspapers with letters to the editor demanding that Fitzgerald set up a special task force to monitor voter registration by non-Citizens. Fitzgerald has taken the heat many times for tough procecutions and this one will be very tough. But since the mechanisms in Illinois to prevent vote fraud by non-Citizens are so weak, the U.S. Attorney is the one office that can start to deal with the potential problem.
