Voting Was Anticipated After Law to Provide Driver’s Licenses

Process for Determining Residency Remains Uncertain

Democrats in the Rhode Island General Assembly have introduced legislation that, if passed, would grant localities the ability to give non-U.S. citizens the right to vote in municipal elections. The measure marks the latest attempt by leftists to give foreigners and, in this case, even illegal immigrants the opportunity to influence the U.S. electoral process.

Under the new bill (H 5461), cities and towns would be permitted to “allow all residents of the municipality to vote in municipal elections for municipal officeholders regardless of the immigration status of the residents.”

The legislation does not specify what constitutes proof of residency.

According to the RI Constitution, the only “persons entitled to vote” are U.S. citizens 18 and older who have lived in their town and the state for 30 days or more “preceding the time of voting as provided by law,” and are registered to vote at least 30 days before Election Day. Despite the specific requirements laid out in the document, Democrat Rep. Enrique Sanchez, one of the bill’s sponsors, doesn’t “think it would be necessary to amend the state’s constitution in order to allow non-citizens to vote.”

Sanchez further stated that if the bill becomes law and a town adopts an ordinance allowing noncitizen voting, it would mean not only illegal aliens but also individuals such as international students attending a Rhode Island university within said jurisdiction would be permitted to vote in that locality’s municipal elections.

The push by Sanchez and his allies to open up the state’s local election systems to illegal immigrants is hardly exclusive to Rhode Island. In blue states across the country, Democrat-controlled localities have passed or are considering resolutions permitting noncitizen voting in certain municipal elections.

Read the complete article in The Federalist by clicking here.