“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual – or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.” – Samuel Adams. Printed in the Boston Gazette on April 16, 1781.
Accountable to God and his country.
Something has gone very wrong from April 16, 1781, to June 26, 2024.
Californians with no driver’s license or SSN can use a credit card or gym membership to vote.
Be informed, not misled.
In California, voters without government ID can still vote as long as they show a gym membership, credit card, utility bill, or other low-security identification.
Individuals wishing to register to vote in California are prompted on the secretary of state’s website to provide their driver’s license identification number and/or the last four digits of their Social Security number. But both sections give applicants the option to select a box indicating they lack that form of identification.
Brianna Lyman, writing for The Federalist, said this:
If an applicant checks both boxes, he would later be prompted to provide other identification, the California secretary of state’s office told The Federalist. Upon further inquiry, an office representative said individuals could provide proof of identity by showing items such as a credit card, a utility bill, or their gym membership.
When I called back for additional clarification, the woman told me she had been informed not to speak to the press, and gave me an email address to try.
In response to my email, the secretary of state’s press office affirmed that if “an applicant cannot be validated [using his driver’s license number or SSN], they are required to show ID at the polls the first time they vote.”
The email directed me to a state statute that lists acceptable documents with which voters who have no SSN or driver’s license may prove their identity. The list includes a “health club identification card” or other “identification card provided by a commercial establishment,” a credit or debit card, student ID, a bank statement, a utility bill, an insurance card, or even a sample ballot, among other options.
She continues, "There are documents that can be used to verify California residence identity, not citizenship,” the office noted, attaching a link to the California statute that specifies what documents can be accepted if a voter can’t provide the SSN or driver’s license number required by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)."
In conclusion, Lyman said, "HAVA requires states to check information about people registering to vote in federal elections against each individual’s information stored in the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles database. If an individual lacks a driver’s license, then another system is designed to verify the voter’s information against Social Security records. (Notably, neither an SSN nor a driver’s license confirms citizenship since foreign nationals can obtain either.)"
Expert says this policy is "absurd."
Hans Von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, calls the policy “absurd.”
“Allowing a gym membership is ridiculous,” Spakovsky says. “I can create a gym membership card on my laptop using Microsoft Word. In fact, that’s the whole reason states require a government-issued photo ID for all kinds of things, including getting a marriage license in most places or cashing a check or [to] buy alcohol. The idea that you would use a gym membership to prove ID is just absurd. That does absolutely nothing.”
The DMV records verification required by HAVA can prevent voter fraud in ways that flashing a gym card can’t. Spakovsky explained:
There is a national DMV association made up of state DMVs and they have a computer system network that allows them to share data. The whole point of it is that almost every state has a law that says ‘If you move into our state and become a resident, you have to turn in your license from the other state and get a license through our state.’ And through that system, states notify the prior state so that the other license can be terminated since the individual now has a new license.”
Once a prior license is terminated, the prior state can also cancel the individual’s voter registration associated with that license. In contrast, gym cards, or non-photo IDs like utility bills, don’t tell election officials anything about whether that voter is already registered to vote in another state.
The Biden administration has a plan to add at least 500,000 new illegal voters to the roles.
"The EO makes it easier for illegal immigrants who married U.S. citizens — and their children — to apply for lawful permanent residence status without leaving the country, and after that, U.S. citizenship. An approximate 500,000 illegal immigrants who married a U.S. citizen will benefit from this order along with 50,000 children, according to the White House," she says.
Former President Donald Trump warned that under Biden’s election-year order, “a deluge of illegals will be given immediate green cards and put on the fast track to rapid citizenship so they can vote.”
“Couple this with [Biden’s] previous voter registration EO and it is clear that Biden is attempting to win the upcoming election, not by winning over legitimate American voters, but by attempting to legitimize illegal immigrants,” said Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen. “He won’t stop with this EO. He will keep attempting to dilute the power of the vote of legal Americans.”
"Dilute the power of the vote of legal Americans" should give us all cold chills. If the vote is corrupted, democracy in our Republic is lost.
NBC News also reported, "The president 'believes that securing the border is essential,'" it said in a news release Tuesday outlining the new action.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also ripped the administration's announcement, painting it as "granting amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens" and saying it would "incentivize more illegal immigration and endanger Americans."
Takeaway
The right to vote is among the most sacred rights we have as Americans. It is fundamental to our democracy.
There is a lot of uneasiness regarding the integrity of the upcoming presidential election.
Yet anyone who questions the reliability of all-mail voting or who advocates basic measures to minimize fraud and error is being accused of voter suppression and election rigging.
Protecting the integrity of our elections should matter to everyone because every single instance of it amounts to canceling out a legitimate vote. Ask yourself how you’d feel if that vote were yours.
That’s why simple protections against fraud, like witness signatures on absentee ballots, official postmarks, in-person voting by all who are able, and photo ID at your polling place, make perfect sense if we truly believe that every vote must count.
Presbyterian pastor and educator Rev. Charles Grandison Finney said:
"The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them. . . . Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently. . . . Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it - and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course the Christians take in politics."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.