CHICAGO – New York state is once again "looking at" allowing undocumented immigrants to register to vote when they obtain their drivers' licenses.
New York Democrats attempted to pass a similar bill last year by slipping it in with another legislation, but the wording was caught and removed by two Republican assembly members, Nicole Malliotakis and Colin Schmitt. At the time, the legislation was written such that everyone applying for a license was automatically registered to vote, illegal or otherwise," LawEnforcementToday.com reports.
The expected Thursday vote in the New York Senate on the revised legislation comes a day after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for automatic voter registration in New York in his annual State of the State address, NBC New York says.
Illinois already allows for residents without immigration documentation to obtain drivers' licenses. Could something like that happen in Illinois?
Illinois Democrats have a super-majority in the Illinois Senate and a super-majority in the Illinois House. They also have a "progressive" Democrat governor and a state Supreme Court with a majority of the judges elected with the help of the state's Democrat Party.
The automatic voter registration law passed unanimously in the Illinois legislature and signed into law by former Republican Governor Bruce Rauner in 2017. It currently says,
Automatic voter registration; Secretary of State.
(a) The Office of the Secretary of State and the State Board of Elections, pursuant to an interagency contract and jointly-adopted rules, shall establish an automatic voter registration program that satisfies the requirements of this Section and other applicable law.
(b) If an application, an application for renewal, a change of address form, or a recertification form for a driver's license, other than a temporary visitor's driver's license, or a State identification card issued by the Office of the Secretary of State meets the requirements of the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, then that application shall serve as a dual-purpose application.
To allow non-citizens to register to vote in Illinois, simple legislative changes, such as crossing through the phrase "other than a temporary visitor's driver's license, or a State identification card" could dramatically change Illinois voting rolls.
The Real ID automatically registers the applicant to vote unless the applicant decides to opt-out. However, applicants have to prove U.S. citizenship to get a Real ID, protecting the state from "accidentally" registering someone to vote that is not a citizen.
“Secretary White is committed to the integrity of the election process,” Henry Haupt, the Spokesperson for the Illinois Secretary of State, told New Channel 20 last fall. “So we wanna make sure that anyone who tries to register to vote is a US citizen. We do not want the automatic voter registration program to become the automatic deportation program."
But could Illinois be next if the Illinois Democrats decide it's time to make the move?
