Democrats in Vermont’s state Senate recently used a veto override to overrule Governor Phil Scott’s (R-VT) rejection of legislation that ultimately grants non-citizens the right to vote. Access to the ballot box would be given to non-citizens who live in cities that are in compliance with federal immigration laws.
“Allowing a highly variable town-by-town approach to municipal voting creates inconsistency in election policy, as well as separate and unequal classes of residents potentially eligible to vote on local issues,” Scott wrote in his veto message. “I believe it is the role of the Legislature to establish clarity and consistency on this matter. This should include defining how municipalities determine which legal residents may vote on local issues, as well as specifying the local matters they may vote on. Returning these bills provides the opportunity to do this important work.”
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel revealed on Thursday that new polling conducted by Kellyanne Conway shows that an overwhelming majority, to the tune of 88 percent, sides against allowing non-citizens to vote or receive mail-in ballots. The survey was given to 800 registered voters and was broken down as 31 percent Democrat, 29 percent Republican, and 36 percent Independent.
Conway detailed the results on McDaniel’s newly-launched podcast.
“[Americans] want to make sure that voting is easy and it's accessible, but they also want to make sure that it's legal and it's transparent and that it's verifiable. Why is the word verifiable important? Well, it's important because is the voter-verified? Is the voter's ID verified? Is the voter's signature verified? This should not be a heavy lift. It should not be controversial that you want to make sure that the most sacrosanct principle in our United States Constitution, one person, one vote, is upheld for everyone. And there is tri-partisan agreement. The majority of Republicans, Democrats, and independents all agree that non-citizens should not vote. People who are not registered to vote or qualified to vote should not vote," she said.
More details on the polling, via the RNC:
- More than 80% of all voters say voter ID is an important security measure; nearly all have driver’s licenses or another form of ID and think it is easy to acquire ID.
- When asked directly if voter ID laws are “racist,” a majority disagreed.
- 89% of voters support purging voter rolls of voters who are no longer registered there or have passed away.
- 88% of all voters say states should not mail ballots to non-citizens and people who are not registered to vote.
- 87% of voters said they were against ballot harvesting.
- 71% of voters believe ballots should not be accepted after election day.
Meanwhile, the RNC is also intervening in the Biden administration’s lawsuit against the state of Georgia for its newly-enacted voting reform law. The administration seeks to loosen voting restrictions and prohibit voter identification laws, which were two primary goals of the “For the People Act.” Senate Republicans killed the legislation last month in a major blow to Democrats’ agenda.
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