“The right to vote is a sacred civil right that empowers naturalized citizens to participate in our democracy,” LaVita Tuff, policy director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, informed the media.
Yet, that same news release declared, “Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta and the Asian American Advocacy Fund collectively condemn the statements made by Georgia’s Secretary of State this morning emphasizing that ‘only American citizens should vote in our elections in Georgia.’”
These groups specifically attach voting rights to “naturalized citizens,” that is, immigrants who go through the process to become American citizens … like millions before them. But then AAAJ‑A and AAAF denounce Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for asking the Georgia General Assembly, last month, to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in all state and local elections.
“[D]on’t disenfranchise the people of Georgia on this important issue,” Raffensperger urged. “Let’s put it on a ballot.”
No argument is offered by either AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) group opposing the substance of Sec. Raffensperger’s proposed amendment. Not a single word.
Instead, they contend that “preventing noncitizens from voting is unnecessary and misleading,” before mentioning a non-citizen voting “measure previously considered in Clarkston, Georgia” and the possibility of changes “that could expand the right to vote to include noncitizens in local elections.” Hmmm … thus providing a very real and recent justification for Georgia voters to weigh-in.
The news release smears Republican Raffensperger for supposedly “using immigrants as a scapegoat to create additional barriers to the ballot.”
But the measure is clearly designed to protect existing barriers, not prohibit any currently eligible citizen from voting.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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4 replies on “Ballots, Barriers and Buncombe”
Politics, don’t ya love it?
It’s really this simple; if you’re an American citizen, you can vote.
If you’re not, you can’t.
For those who aren’t, they can always go home and vote where they are citizens.
Problem solved.
I read the press release and AAPI is calling for interpreters at polling stations and increased language access (bilingual ballots?) for voters. How does an immigrant become naturalized without demonstrating English proficiency?
Bear in mind that, to make any language an official language, the state must be made an arbiter of what is or is not that language. To make the English language the official language of the United States or of a constituent state, the English language must be surrendered to that state. You should regard that outcome as a nightmare.
I read the press release and AAPI is calling for interpreters at polling stations and increased language access for limited English proficient voters. How does an immigrant become a naturalized citizen without first demonstrating English proficiency?