Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH
04.21.2008 2:47 pm

Slay opposes voter citizenship bill

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Mayor Francis Slay is lashing out at a proposal in the State House that would require voters to prove they are also U.S. citizens.

As our own Adam Jadhav reported yesterday, the bill, quietly passed by the House Elections Committee earlier this month, threatens to raise some of the same issues as those covered in the contentious Voter ID law, which was struck down by the state Supreme Court.

The new proposal would require voters to present proof of citizenship before casting a ballot. Currently, voters need only to swear they are citizens.

Slay, writing in his blog today, charges that the proposal would harm poor and minority voters, who tend to vote Democratic. The bill’s sponsor, Cynthia Davis of O’Fallon, is a Republican.

Writes Slay:

The intended target of this bill is the mythical illegal immigrant who votes in Missouri elections. The actual targets, though, are more likely to be the very real low-income, minority, or senior residents who don’t travel enough to have a passport, don’t drive, or can’t negotiate the complicated (and possibly expensive) task of tracking down a birth certificate and the marriage and divorce documents that prove that 80-year old “Mary Jones Taylor Smith” of Tower Grove East was born in Alaska as “Ann Mary Jones.”

slay.JPGCynthia Davis

Slay (left) opposes voter bill from Davis

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...
13 comments

Comments are closed.

Some morons can cause so much trouble when they feign justifying their take at the taxpayer trough, or in this case, mere relevancy in Jeff City. When might this particular mediocrity term-limit the hell out?

— gaydem
5:00 pm April 21st, 2008

Slay?

I don’t think term limits apply to him.

gaydem (or anyone else…) is there a problem with only US citizens being allowed to vote?

— tsquare
7:43 pm April 21st, 2008

This has got to be a joke. How many illegal residents are casting votes in Misouri? What a waste of time and either pure stupidity or evil motives? May God bless these ones with a clean heart and common sense.

— D. Walker
8:49 pm April 21st, 2008

The legislature should pass this bill to ensure the integrity of elections, and consider revisiting the voter-ID bill in a form more likely not to be struck down by the supremes.

P.S. Please tell me the St. Louis Post-Dispatch can find and post a non-distorted picture of a state representative.

— Brian
7:46 am April 22nd, 2008

Brian - They actually used a non-distorted photo - unlike Slay’s photo, which is hosted on stltoday, the photo of Davis is actually a link to her photo (link below) on the state’s website. But they added fixed width and height tags to distort the photo. Was it intentional, or just sloppy? Who knows. But anyone who does websites knows that you use a width or height tag, but not both - then the aspect ratio of the image is preserved.

http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills081/member/mem019.jpg

— Nick Kasoff
8:08 am April 22nd, 2008

This bill is idiotic. There are barely any documented cases of non-citizens voting in the entire country, much less in St. Louis. Think about it - if you entered the country illegally and face deportation if you’re found out, why would you provide your name and address on a voting form, then show up at a poll. Isn’t that a little risky?

— Clark
10:24 am April 22nd, 2008

D. Walker, Republicans want to have as few elderly, African American and lower-income people voting as possible. That’s why they continue to propose restrictive voting laws like this.

— Clark
10:25 am April 22nd, 2008

In September 1996, California’s Secretary of State ordered county voter registrars not to permit non-citizens to vote in the November 1996 elections, after it was revealed that 727 non-citizens in Los Angeles county had filled out the voter registration form attached to the driver’s license application under the new “motor voter” law.

A 1997 Congressional investigation found that 4,023 illegal voters possibly cast ballots in a disputed House election in California.

That’s only two examples in one state. There are more. It’s a myth that illegal aliens in this country live in the shadows. They hide in plain sight. They steal IDs and social security numbers to get drivers licenses and other documents. They don’t see their activity as risky because the federal government’s immigration enforcement mechanisms are a joke. That’s why communities and states have taken it upon themselves to do what the idiots in Washington won’t.

— Go_Fish
11:19 am April 22nd, 2008

tsquare: If your reading comprehension is so lacking, why visit? It should be clear that my post concerns the woman in the picture, which by the way I think is a perfect likeness; entirely becoming. For, she is one true mess!

— gaydem
5:57 pm April 22nd, 2008

Dateline March 4, 2009: St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was defeated in his own party’s primary yesterday, due to questionable votes cast in the city’s north side and in certain areas of south city, along Cherokee Street.

— Puggg
6:11 pm April 22nd, 2008

Pages: [1] 2 » Show All