Sacramento,
Aug 7 -
By John Doolittle - Special to The Bee
Apparently recognizing that voters are tiring of reading recycled talking points from Rep. Nancy Pelosi's culture of corruption campaign, The Bee did something quite remarkable. Instead of its weekly attack on my wife and family, it criticized my efforts to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in our elections.
Amazingly, The Bee considers this issue to be "silly" and "not a big problem." I disagree. So does the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a nonprofit, public-interest organization whose 200,000 members happen to feel that this issue is no laughing matter.
Last month, FAIR's president, Dan Stein, testified before Congress that passage of motor-voter laws has caused the process of registering to vote to become almost automatic for illegal immigrants who apply for a driver's license in those states that allow noncitizens to obtain one. For instance, the legislative auditor of the state of Utah in February 2005 reported that 58,000 illegal immigrants had a Utah driver's license and that hundreds of them used their licenses to register to vote. (Since March 2005, Utah has required individuals to have a Social Security number to get a driver's license.) Stein went on to say that there is evidence that illegal immigrants are purposefully registering to vote because employer sanction laws adopted in 1986 allow "a voter registration card to be used as one of the documents that establishes an employee's identity."
Fortunately for those of us who are concerned about preserving the sanctity of our election process, there is an answer to this growing problem. I have co-sponsored legislation that would require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. This idea, which most fair-minded citizens place in the category of just plain common sense, was the focus of the e-mail I sent to my constituents. Curiously, it also is considered to be a "draconian solution" by The Bee.
As one of the most liberal newspapers in the country, The Bee has a right to its position, no matter how out of touch it may be with its readers. Clearly, the people of at least my congressional district agree that such measures are needed. Of the thousands of people who responded to my e-mail, more than 90 percent thought that my legislation was a good idea.
Despite what The Bee thinks, there is nothing silly about illegal immigrants voting in our elections. I would invite anyone who wants to help me in this fight to contact my office at (916) 786-5560 for more information on what we can do to ensure that our right to vote as Americans is protected.
