Perhaps seeking to paint a sympathetic portrait of a woman charged with illegally voting in a federal election before naturalizing as a U.S. citizen, the Chicago Tribune's Antonio Olivo buried the lede in his story, "Citizenship in sight, but then she voted."
In the midst of lamenting the plight of one Beth Keathley, Olivo uncovered concerns about so-called motor-voter registration and how it can lead to non-citizens successfully registering to vote, although doing so is against the law. Of course, this information didn't start to come to light until the 10th paragraph in Olivo's story, well after he mentioned how a deportation could tear Keathley from her 9-month-old daughter (emphasis mine):
There are no records kept to accurately reflect the size of the problem. But immigration attorneys around the country have seen a steady increase in recent years of deportation cases and declined citizenship due to illegal voting, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, a Chicago attorney who is the immediate past president of the Washington-based American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Before the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as the "motor voter" law, registration took place before a sworn elections official, usually inside a local election board office or voting precinct -- places hard to find for even native-born citizens.
[...]
Under a federal anti-discrimination law, state workers aren't allowed to confirm an applicant's citizenship before processing a voter registration form, said Beth Kaufman, spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office.
"Our job is to ask whether you want to register to vote, and if the person says 'yes,' we give them a sheet to sign from the board of elections that says: 'Are you a citizen of the United States?' and you check that box 'yes' or 'no' and you sign it," Kaufman said. "We are not allowed to ask anything else."
Some immigrants, confused, leave the question unanswered and still receive voter registration cards, Tapia-Ruano said.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters




















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Comments Policy
Motor Voter
December 3, 2007 - 16:27 ET by allanfThat is the idea behind Motor Voter. If immigration reform had passed, I think the Democrats would have pushed for first resident aliens and then illegal aliens to be allowed to vote.
The Democrats need an underclass to take care of.
motor voter
December 3, 2007 - 18:04 ET by NickA4944In 2000 my wife and I moved to Nevada from NY. She was a legal immigrant (green card) and when we went to the NV DMV she was given a voters registration card without any questions being asked....the before the 2004 election, 2 women came to our door and asked my wife if she was registered to vote..my wife advised them that she was not a citizen..they said that was OK and gave her a voters registration form...whe she said that she would vote for Pres Bush, they took the form back and walked away..to bad my wife didnt remember the organization so I could have reported them..
Nick... I can't help but
December 3, 2007 - 18:06 ET by bigtimerNick...
I can't help but wonder if it was ACORN.
I know there are a lot of others but they are pretty well organized with getting illegal voters.
Thanks for the great post which I found more than interesting and proves our point....
...and they wonder whey the
December 3, 2007 - 15:38 ET by bigtimer...and they wonder why the majority of americans are past fed up....this is one very huge reason.
The Clinton's devised the Motor Voter law just for this very reason...illegal votes for the leftists...and there most likely have been millions of these votes/voters over the years..it must be stopped.
I forgot which show I was watching the other day but I heard some states do not request that when you get your drivers license renewed or a new one, they do not ask if you are a legal US citizen...they have in all the states I have lived in...this too is outrageous.
Now back to some of this topic here, I am past tired of the crying crowd from the left about parents being torn from their kids, they know danged good and well what they are doing and what may happen if they get caught.
This woman should be jailed for breaking the law here...after we deport her back to wherever she came from and she can serve her sentence there....
I know none of this will happen at the moment, but this is one of the biggest issues in this country now, and it has been for some of us for years and years...we had better get a candidate that will do something about all of this immediately if we vote them in....along with being dependent on oil in our own country and SC Judges and of course the terrorists everywhere.
And who is the authority
December 3, 2007 - 23:14 ET by Cape Conservativeto state that she will be separated from her child? She can/should take the little one with her...and don't let the door hit her in the rear on the way out!
There's an old saying in
December 3, 2007 - 16:03 ET by dabalThere's an old saying in the USA...
"If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."
Illegals, if you are deported, two major problems will be 1) your mortgage (you will lose your house) and 2) if you decide to leave your children here when you get deported, that means you can't be with them.
Can someone please translate this to Spanish for me?
Thanks in advance. :)
yo quiero, taco bell?
December 3, 2007 - 16:06 ET by pwozyo quiero, taco bell?
translation
December 3, 2007 - 16:11 ET by the mad poleNo Mas
traducción para el dabal honorable
December 3, 2007 - 16:38 ET by Lame CherryIllegals, si usted está deportado, dos problemas importantes
será 1) su hipoteca (usted perderá su casa) y 2) si usted decide
dejar a sus niños aquí cuando usted consigue deportado, que
los medios usted no pueden ser con ellos.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
Why, oh WHY, is this such a
December 3, 2007 - 16:28 ET by BeowulfWhy, oh WHY, is this such a difficult thing to comprehend? IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO VOTE UNLESS YOU ARE A US CITIZEN. And if you can't understand such plain English, you are obviously not (or shouldn't be) a US citizen.
This also personifies one of the many concerns so-called "anti-immigrant" people have - illegals voting. If non-citizens can register to vote before being naturalized, then what's to stop plain, everyday ILLEGAL ALIENS from doing the same? And people wonder why the 'Crats are so easy on illegals...
The Closed Mind Erects Strong Barriers
I agree. If anything is
December 3, 2007 - 19:52 ET by GregEI agree. If anything is under attack in this country, right up at the top is common sense. There is so litte of common sense being used today, all over the freakin place. And government, good GRIEF, they're the worst by FAR. This issue about illegals, and voting, etc etc, is absolutely mindboggling. It's unreal to me that ADULTS cannot understand what ILLEGAL means.
Fair is muy favorablemente
December 3, 2007 - 16:35 ET by Lame CherryListen if Jorge El Busto and Vincente Fox are all pampers for these border busters and their voting here...........I have a quid pro pedro as all is fair in this NAFTA deal.
I want to vote in Mexico. I want 200 million ballots to be printed up for every American so we can vote in Mexico's elections then too........in every state, every town, and in the nationals.
I submit the Greengo (oopps I don't suppose Mexicans can say that as that is racial and a slur and they would end up in a Canadian jail).........anyway the El Verde Va of the El Verde Va Party be Michael Reagan for el presidente of Mexico as the American or El Verde Va representative.
Personally I want to be Governor of one of those northern states as Col. Charles Askins always said they had great duck hunting there and you could sleep out in the desert in a cot shucking oysters for breakfast, dinner and supper. Sounds like my kind of casa to play in.
So Lame Cherry for Governor and whoever else wants to be elected to Mexico. I promise my pedro compatriots I will bring in clean water, Christian schools, hang the criminals, make cheap electricity, affordable food and grants for Co ops so they all can market their goods for profits..........those who are not working at a GE plant I lure down there to employ most everyone so they can then have pesos galore to buy all the American goods they lust after.
Great balance of trade, I keep all the Mexicans flowing north, Nance Pelosi gets to mow her own lawn and diaper her own grand kids..........and I get to hunt, ride spirited Spanish horses, eat bbq and solve America's problems by Americans electing Michael Reagan el presidente of Mexico.
Just refer to me now as, muy El Verde Va Gobernador en Espar, Lame Cherry.
next problem please to solve. agtG
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
I go along with everything
December 3, 2007 - 23:18 ET by Cape Conservativeyou said, LC, until it came to eating bbq down Mehico-way. NC barbecue is the best ever!!!! You'll have to leave that behind and fill up on tacos & burritos ;-)
Built for fraud
December 3, 2007 - 22:14 ET by nkviking75A lot of standards for voting have been relaxed to the point that lots of people like this woman undoubtedly slip through the cracks.
Question: If we could determine the legality of every single vote in the 2000 election, would Gore have gotten a majority of the popular vote? No one will ever know, but I wouldn't be surprised if Gore would have lost the legal popular vote count.
As for this woman, this situation is sad if it was merely a moment of carelessness. Still, ignorance of the law is not a defense.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
I'm surprised the only
December 3, 2007 - 23:21 ET by Cape Conservativeconcern of the ChiTrib article was of non-citizens voting. I thought this was the land of the "dead" voter ;-) Bet there are lots more of those...though, come to think about it, I guess they can't contact the newspaper to complain...and the paper certainly isn't about to do any actual investigating!