Following Wednesday’s signing of an executive order by Donald Trump that, among other things, requires the various states to verify the citizenship of those registering to vote, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker immediately spoke against the order and, as one might expect, got a lot of things wrong.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday had a forceful response to President Donald Trump’s executive order signed earlier in the day to overhaul elections, including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
“Voting is a fundamental right and sacred responsibility of every American. Yet, once again Donald Trump is ignoring the rule of law and circumventing Congress,” Pritzker wrote in statement released Tuesday evening.
Voting, we might note, isn’t a right. It is a duty, yes, but there is no recognized “right to vote” in law. We do restrict people from voting for any number of reasons; people under 18 cannot vote, nor (in many states) can convicted felons, and of course, non-citizens. That was the reason for President Trump’s requirement for the states to verify the citizenship of people registering to vote. The franchise is a privilege that comes with citizenship, and Governor Pritzker, inexplicably, opposes the elementary requirement of having people’s citizenship documented before they register to vote.
He continues:
“We will not blindly follow illegal orders because Donald Trump wrote them down on a piece of paper. Illinois follows the laws of the land – not the decrees of an aspiring king hell bent on disenfranchising millions of voters who deserve to have their voice heard.”
Now, President Trump’s order will, inevitably, face challenges. The Constitution gives the states broad authority over elections, and Article I, Section 2, Clause 4 gives power to Congress, not the president, to set overarching rules:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
But let’s take a harder look at Governor Pritzker’s claim.
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The Illinois Governor claims that the practice of requiring citizenship verification and, presumably, voter ID, will disenfranchise “millions of voters.” This claim stinks like a dead woodchuck under the porch. The correct number would be dozens, not millions, if even that. It is almost impossible to get through life today in the United States without some form of ID. A state-issued driver’s license or ID, and every state will issue an ID to anyone who doesn’t drive, is required for opening a bank account, cashing a check, buying a bottle of booze, buying a firearm, applying for a credit card, an auto loan, or a mortgage, and many of the functions of our modern lifestyle. No Democrat, anywhere, objects to someone being required to not only show ID but also to undergo a background check to buy a firearm. But to show an ID to verify citizenship for voter registration, or to actually vote, it seems, is a bridge too far.
Frankly, for those few people who somehow manage to slide through life in the United States without ever obtaining any form of ID, it’s just as well that they don’t vote. If they can’t be bothered to go to the DMV and get a state-issued ID, if they somehow stayed under the radar without ever, not even once, undergoing any of the many economic transactions in which one is required to show ID, we shouldn’t want them voting.
As for Governor Pritzker’s “disenfranchise millions of voters” claim, it is nothing more than another expression of Democrat horse squeeze. Pritzker would do better to spend his time figuring out why people are fleeing Illinois at an ever-increasing rate.
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The American people are being “disenfranchised ” by foreign criminals voting anti-American.