A letter sent to residents of Orange County has made news recently. Apparently it warned residents that if they are not citizens of the United States, they are not allowed to vote.
Whoever sent this apparently broke election laws by sending it.
I don’t understand. What’s wrong here? I wasn’t born in the US, but I immigrated legally, became a citizen about 26 years ago, and have been voting since I turned 18. If someone mailed that letter to me, I’d obviously ignore it and continue voting.
So, what the hell did they do wrong? To the best of my knowledge, it IS illegal to vote if you are not a citizen! Residency alone doesn’t qualify you to vote, correct? So how can a letter that correctly states the law be bad? If it intimidates illegal aliens from voting, why is that a problem? They’re not allowed to vote anyway, right? Or am I just plain wrong and anyone who lives here is allowed to vote, other than felons?
The fuss about the letter isn’t about whether illegal immigrants (or legal immigrants who are not US citizens) can vote – it’s clear to all parties that for such people to attempt to vote would be fraudulent.
The issue is over the letter’s claim that immigrants are not allowed to vote. Of course they are, if they’re naturalized citizens.
Now, the vast majority of people who have been through the naturalization process are going to ignore this letter, since they know very well that they’re allowed to vote. But, with all of the brouhaha concerning immigration (and including the fact that a frighteningly high percentage of US voters don’t really have a good handle on the fine points of immigration, including the distinctions between illegal immigrant / legal resident / naturalized citizen), there will be some people who receive the letter who are allowed to vote, but will take the letter’s claims at face value, and possibly scared to go to the voting booth. That is voter intimidation, and is what the fuss is about.