ABOUT FAITH & FREEDOM

Thursday, August 15, 2024

“I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections."

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Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has discovered more than 3,000 potential noncitizens registered to vote in the state. His office is now taking steps to remove noncitizens from the rolls.

“I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections,” Allen said in an Aug. 13 press release. “We have examined the current voter file in an attempt to identify anyone who appears on that list that has been issued a noncitizen identification number.” 

We should hope other states will address this issue with the same determination.

The Biden-Harris Administration has certainly been determined to infuse our voting roles with illegals from all over the world.

Be informed, not misled.

The press release says: 

After being sworn into office on January 16, 2023, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen immediately initiated strategic efforts to ensure that Alabama has the cleanest and most accurate voter file in the country. As part of this effort, Secretary Allen has identified 3,251 individuals who are registered to vote in Alabama who have been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary announced today that he is instructing the Boards of Registrars in all 67 counties to immediately inactivate and initiate steps necessary to remove all individuals who are not United States Citizens.

“I have been clear that I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections,” Allen said. “I have even gone so far as to testify before a United States Senate Committee regarding the importance of this issue. We have examined the current voter file in an attempt to identify anyone who appears on that list that has been issued a noncitizen identification number.”  

Repeated requests to the United States Federal Government to assist Allen’s efforts by providing a list of noncitizens currently residing in Alabama have been declined. This lack of cooperation led Allen to approach the issue in a different way.  

Allen has also provided the list of registered voters identified as having been issued a noncitizen identification number to the Office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for further investigation and possible criminal prosecution. 

“I am hopeful that in the near future the federal government will change course and be helpful to states as we work to protect our elections,” Allen said in the release. Allen’s office is sending the registrations at issue to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for “further investigation and possible criminal prosecution.”

Allen will not give up on this matter. 

“This is not a one-time review of our voter file,” Allen said. “We will continue to conduct such reviews to do everything possible to make sure that everyone on our file is an eligible voter.”

According to Rawls, federal mandates have directed state agencies to expand voter registration, including sending forms to noncitizens. She also said President Joe Biden’s “Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting” led the government to register voters in Alabama’s federal prisons, where inmates include noncitizens.

The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood reported that Biden has used the executive order to push voter registration in Mississippi prisons. According to The Daily Signal, the Federal Bureau of Prisons partners with left-leaning groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, and the Campaign Legal Center.

“Unfortunately, the federal government limits the power of states to require proof of citizenship at the time of registration,” Rawls said. Still, Allen has directed local boards of registrars to require an Alabama driver’s license number, non-driver ID, or Social Security number when registering voters.

“Allen has also demanded answers from state and federal agencies conducting these expanded voter registration efforts on how they plan to keep noncitizens from registering to vote in Alabama,” Rawls said.

He has also warned citizens of registering to vote through Vote411, citing concerns over data privacy. Vote411, which masquerades as a nonpartisan group, uses voter registration forms to shuttle users to a left-wing data harvesting operation. 

Other states should follow Allen's lead. And they are.

In Tennessee, Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s election coordinator, Mark Goins, sent letters to more than 14,000 potential noncitizens in June, telling them to either update their information or request the state remove them from voter rolls.  

Doug Kufner, communications director for Hargett’s office, told The Federalist at the time that Goins found these registrations after comparing voter registrations to data from the state’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Takeaway

The letters instructed new citizens on how to correct their records, but that didn’t stop the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation from threatening to sue, according to The Associated Press. Hargett’s office sent follow-up letters, clarifying it would not remove registered voters who did not respond to the initial mailing.

Mercedes Schlapp has said, "Pretending that voter fraud does not exist puts the integrity of our voting process at risk." 

Voting is a gift of God. It is incumbent that we work to preserve and cherish that God-given right. 

And it is spiritually mandatory that Christians vote. Presbyterian minister and educator Rev. Charles 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."

Politics matter because voting matters. And voter integrity matters.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.