Qualifications to Legally Vote
By Antonio Benedi
WashingtonTimes.com
I am amazed and bothered by the idle way we in
the United States conduct our elections. The issue
at hand is who exactly is qualified to vote in the
United States. For the past few elections,
especially in 2008 and 2012, people voted who did
not meet the qualifications.
The early voting now seems to be holding that
pattern of not requiring proof of citizenship. The
U.S. Constitutional requirement of voter eligibility
states that a person needs to be eighteen years old
and most importantly, a United States citizen. As
stated in the Constitution in Amendment 14 Section
1, “All persons born or naturalized” are citizens of
the U.S. and the state in which they reside.
Why, then, are so many non-citizens voting in our
elections?
I was born in Cuba and my family and I came to the
United States in 1960 fleeing the brutal communist
takeover by Fidel Castro and his goons. Many Cubans
fled in the same manner. We were welcomed with
the open arms and generosity by this great country.
We in turn respect and love our adopted country and
abide by its laws. Many Cuban refugees fought in the
Vietnam War in the 1960s and many have served our
country in the military and elsewhere, as I have.
We strived to make a difference in this great
nation. One of our goals was to participate fully in
this democracy. We waited our turn and became
“naturalized” U.S. citizens.
Becoming a U.S. citizen was one of the happiest
moments of my life and of my family’s. We wanted to
be able to vote and to make a contribution to our
communities and our nation. We do these actions
in order to fulfill our civic duties, our
obligations. When my family and I went to register
to vote we needed to show proper identification and
proof of citizenship. This means we needed either a
birth certificate or our Naturalization papers. This
was a requirement to ensure that only U.S. citizens
of the proper age would be able to vote.
Now we see differing voting requirements across
the country. The Constitution allows the states some
leeway in how they conduct their elections, early
voting as an example. Most states have the
provision that you must be a United States citizen
to vote. Some do not. Some do not even require a
formal ID.
But it is the “law” that for all federal elections,
you must have proof of U.S. citizenship. either by
birth or Naturalization. This federal
requirement includes
the election of U.S. Members of Congress, U.S.
Senators, President of the United States and Vice
President of the United States. In all states,
the ballots have the “federal” candidates that
require U.S. citizenship to vote for, together with
the local and state candidates that may not have
such citizenship requirements.
There is no differentiation or distinction made at
the voting centers of whether the voter is a U.S.
citizen or a non-citizen. They all can vote for all
candidates. This is a clear violation of the law
when voting for “federal” candidates. We have
allowed illegal aliens, foreign nationals,
criminals, and enemies of our country to vote for
the highest offices of our county. No other country
allows such a travesty.
How can we have honest, clean elections when we do
not even require a photo ID? In the states that
require identification, only a driver’s license or
another form of ID is asked for. No proof of
citizenship is asked for. Anyone can get a driver’s
license. This lack of verification can lead our
elections to be compromised by outside forces that
do not have our best interest at heart.
Our current administration and its Justice
Department have done all they can to get rid of the
requirements needed to vote in this country. This is
obviously done for political reasons. This is
done without any regard for the sanctity of our
“votes”. With so many illegal aliens pouring into
this country and an administration that is bypassing
Congress and printing millions of “green cards,” it
is only a matter of time that these non-citizens
will be voting and shaping our country’s future. No
other country in the world would allow non-citizens
to vote and have an effect on its future. If we
continue in this destructive path of defiance
and complacency, we will lose our voices.
Our history is mixed on the voting rights that have
lead to this. But what is clear is that the
requirement of citizenship is mandatory to vote for
“federal office”. Our Secretaries of State need to
enforce both state laws and federal laws to ensure
we do not lose our God-given right to govern
ourselves. Our Founding Fathers fought for the right
to govern ourselves and not to be dictated by
foreign forces.
As a proud, voting, citizen of the United States, I
call on all responsible authorities to enforce the
law and assure that our elections are legal and our
voters are U.S. citizens. Voters need to have been
born in the United States or be Naturalized
citizens.
Antonio Benedi is
former Special Assistant to President George H.W.
Bush and a naturalized United States citizen.