A skirmish broke out Wednesday as state Board of Elections commissioners entered the debate over Gov. Eliot Spitzer's driver's licensing policy.
With Republicans objecting to it and Democrats challenging them, Commissioner Helena Moses Donohue, a Rockland County florist, read an Oct. 25 letter from the Albany County Board of Elections. The two county commissioners want to know if the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service can help county boards verify citizenships to help sort out who is legally entitled to vote.
While Spitzer's policy is designed to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, Donohue argued a license is a form of proof of eligibility to vote. And, she noted, the Department of Motor Vehicles is the biggest single source of voter registration applications.
Spitzer's policy "could lead to a large number of unqualified registration applicants submitting the voter registration form," Donohue said. "We urge the governor to reconsider his new policy in light of the potential impact on voter registration."
Douglas A. Kellner, a Manhattan lawyer and co-chairman of the commission, called it "a false issue," while fellow Democrat Evelyn J. Aquila, of Brooklyn, said Spitzer's initiative will lead to positive things, such as more people becoming licensed and insured.
Donohue said, "That has no bearing."
Republican Co-Chairman Neil Kelleher, a former assemblyman from Rensselaer County, emphasized the issue before the board is "who investigates these people?"
Kellner, who called the phrase "these people" a "troubling expression," said in New York City the board of elections, where he formerly worked, tends to investigate applications by suspicious applicants "on a case-by-case basis, based on cause."
Kellner asked if commissioners know anyone who has fraudulently claimed they were U.S. citizens in order to register to vote. None said they had.
"To just assume large numbers of people are ... committing voter fraud ... There's no evidence of this," he said, to a smattering of applause from the small audience at the board meeting.
Donohue recommended a system of fingerprinting all eligible voters. "I would do fingerprints," she said. "I have nothing to hide."
The state board has one investigator, and county boards have none, although some can be assigned those duties on an ad-hoc basis, Kellner said.
timesunion.com
Of course he felt obligated to object to "these people" even though the expression clearly means illegal immigrants, which to my knowledge do not come from one specific race, country, region, etc...Originally Posted by eyeongovt
That PC pud immediately thinks "mexicans" when illegals are mentioned and there for needed to cover his tracks.
Yeah, but is he wrong for thinking that they're Mexican? No. I don't see Chinese, Irish, Canadians or any other ethnicity running across our borders.
He's wrong for thinking they're all mexicans. The majority are, but framing the illegal debate as "us vs. the mexicans" will inevitably lead the PC schmucks to throw the "racism" grenade and attempt to stifle legit debate.
F ing PCers are "the" people need that need to end their pathetic lives.
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