{"id":2251033,"date":"2024-05-23T08:50:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T12:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/measure-impacting-auto-voter-registration-raises-non-citizen-registration-concerns\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T08:53:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T12:53:57","slug":"measure-impacting-auto-voter-registration-raises-non-citizen-registration-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/measure-impacting-auto-voter-registration-raises-non-citizen-registration-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Auto voter registration measure raises concerns about non-citizen registration"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmeasure-impacting-auto-voter-registration-raises-non-citizen-registration-concerns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2251033&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Illinois Senate bill proposes streamlining \u2063auto voter registration to include non-citizens&#8217; license applicants. State Sen. Ram Villivalam amended Senate Bill 496, stating that those presenting immigration documents \u200dwill not be automatically registered to vote. Concerns were raised \u200dabout the constitutionality of the bill and the impact on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-puts-susan-rice-in-charge-of-effort-to-expand-vote-by-mail\/\" title=\"Biden Puts Susan Rice in Charge of Effort to Expand Vote by Mail\">voter registration processes<\/a>. \u200dVillivalam&#8217;s bill has advanced to a\u200b full Senate vote.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013\u00a0An Illinois Senate bill aims to streamline the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvanias-switch-to-automatic-voter-registration-is-inconsistent-with-state-law-election-experts-say\/\" title=\"Election experts claim Pennsylvania's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-republican-state-senators-propose-bills-to-end-no-excuse-mail-voting-automatic-registration\/\" title=\"Georgia Republican State Senators Propose Bills to End No-excuse Mail Voting, Automatic Registration\">automatic voter registration<\/a> switch contradicts state law.&#8221;>automatic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-gop-passes-resolution-declaring-biden-not-legitimately-elected\/\" title=\"Texas GOP Passes Resolution Declaring Biden Not Legitimately Elected\">voter registration process<\/a><\/a> to include applicants for both standard driver licenses, which non-citizens can now obtain, and REAL IDs for those who provide documentation of U.S. citizenship. <\/p>\n<p>State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, amended <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/billstatus.asp?DocNum=496&#038;GAID=17&#038;GA=103&#038;DocTypeID=SB&#038;LegID=144246&#038;SessionID=112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 496<\/a><\/strong> and said that applicants who present immigration documents will not be registered to vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProgramming is in place to prevent the [automatic] voter registration process from launching,\u201d said Villivalam during a committee hearing late Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois already has an automatic voter registration in place but Villivalam\u2019s bill would expand it to include REAL IDs.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, then-Gov. Bruce Rauner <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/illinois\/article_5878f75b-d45d-56ee-aff9-7bdce5918354.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signed<\/a><\/strong> into law the automatic voter registration program, which means Illinoisans who apply for a driver\u2019s license are automatically registered to vote. The Rauner enacted law excluded temporary visitor driver\u2019s licenses, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2023 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/illinois\/article_3b39b394-1787-11ee-9e68-132e4b01509c.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signed<\/a><\/strong> legislation that allows non-citizens to apply and obtain a standard driver\u2019s license. Illinois has had the TVDL program for a decade that allowed non-citizens that meet certain criteria to obtain a license that noted \u201cNOT VALID FOR IDENTIFICATION\u201d across the top. The 2023 law changed that to have all non-REAL ID licenses and state IDs say \u201cFEDERAL LIMITS APPLY.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, asked if Villivalam\u2019s legislation clearly states that applicants have to be in-person. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan you point to somewhere in the bill where it would say you have to be present in order to present all the documentation in order to be enrolled in the AVR program?\u201d Rezin asked.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo each individual has to sign an attestation that allows the applicant to affirm under penalty of perjury the truth and correctness of the information in the application and when they\u2019re doing that they have to be in-person,\u201d said Brenda Glenn, an attorney with the Illinois Secretary of State\u2019s office.  <\/p>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, expressed concerns surrounding the constitutionality of the bill. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople exercise their right to vote but people have the right to not vote and to not register to vote. I find it hard to see how a reviewing court is going to find this legislation constitutional when you essentially take a very simple process where you can opt-out to vote and instead you put someone through a more burdensome process on the backend to not register to vote,\u201d Curran said during committee. \u201cYou\u2019re raising the threshold to exercise their right to not vote or register to vote.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Glenn confirmed Illinois will be at least one of 10 states to allow a backend opt out voter registration process. <\/p>\n<p>Advocates say with a backend AVR process instead of a front-end process, individuals are automatically registered to vote unless they put in extra effort required like having to fill out and return a mailer indicating a desire not to be registered, and the extra effort makes it less likely that a voting-eligible person will opt out.<\/p>\n<p>Federal criminal law prohibits non-citizens from registering and voting in U.S. elections.<\/p>\n<p>Villivalam said he introduced this because non-English speaking immigrants are put in situations when interacting with the government where it becomes truncated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tendency is to really pull back and not really answer those questions where you understand them,\u201d he said. \u201cFor that reason I am passionate about this bill because instead of having a hectic encounter and getting a question to opt-in, many people will be able to have the opportunity to be automatically registered and then on the backend, if they would not want to be, then there\u2019s a process for that,\u201d said Villivalam.<\/p>\n<p>Villivalam\u2019s bill advanced out of committee and could come up for a full Senate vote Thursday. <\/p>\n<p>Carol Davis, Illinois Conservative Union chairman, said it\u2019s not only DMVs but President Joe Biden\u2019s Executive Order 14019, issued in early 2021, that\u00a0 ordered every federal agency to register everyone who comes into contact with the agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople who don\u2019t speak English often do not understand that they have to \u2018opt-out.\u2019 They are not informed that it is against federal law for non-citizens to register to vote and\/or to vote,\u201d said Davis. \u201cEverytime someone touches a federal agency in any way they are getting a voter registration form shoved in their face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that states may not require documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in a federal election, citing the requirement in the National Voter Registration Act that states must accept the federal registration form, which features only the check box asking individuals if they are a citizen or not. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile there\u2019s a lot of bad people pouring over the border, there\u2019s a lot of great people who would make great American citizens eventually. They will use these people and get them to register, half the time they don\u2019t realize they\u2019re being registered, and they aren\u2019t telling them it\u2019s a felony. And when they do apply for citizenship and it\u2019s revealed they are registered and\/or they voted \u2026 they are denied citizenship because of that,\u201d said Davis. \u201cThey\u2019re being used. They\u2019re victims.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>Separately, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilga.gov\/legislation\/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2978&#038;GAID=17&#038;GA=103&#038;DocTypeID=SB&#038;LegID=152093&#038;SessionID=112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 2978<\/a><\/strong> says the Illinois Secretary of State will not provide documents submitted with a driver\u2019s license application to any government entity for the purpose of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-attorney-general-mark-brnovich-facebook-admits-to-aiding-human-smuggling\/\" title=\"Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich: Facebook Admits to Aiding Human Smuggling\">enforcing federal immigration laws<\/a>, including the Illinois State Board of Elections. SB2978 was put on postponed consideration in the House Wednesday after spirited debate, but may still be brought up. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Illinois Senate bill aims to enhance auto voter registration. It includes applicants for standard driver licenses, which non-citizens can get, and REAL IDs for U.S. citizens. State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, updated Senate Bill 496 stating that applicants with immigration documentation can also be registered automatically<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2251034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23293582244211-2-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23293582244211-2-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2251034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}