Tag: voting

DC Council advances bill to let noncitizens vote

Washington, D.C.’s city council on Tuesday voted to advance a bill that would allow noncitizen residents to vote in local elections.  

“Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute and care about our community in our city. They, like all DC residents, deserve a right to have a say in their government,” said D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, introducing the bill during the Tuesday legislative meeting. 

“They raise families here, contribute to their community. They run businesses that people depend on, and they pay taxes that we decide how to spend. Yet they have no ability to elect local leaders who make decisions about their bodies, their businesses and their tax dollars,” Allen said. 

The bill would allow all noncitizen residents in the city who otherwise meet voting requirements to vote in local elections, including mayoral, school board and attorney general races — regardless of visa or documentation status.

The councilmembers voted 12-1 in favor of the bill on first reading, greenlighting the bill to go ahead for a final vote before it is sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).

The bill comes as D.C. grapples with an influx of migrants transported into the city as Republican governors in three Southern border states protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) alone has bused more than 10,000 migrants north to Democratic-led Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago.

Abbott directly sent two buses to Vice President Harris’s Naval Observatory residence in D.C. as part of what he calls a protest of “sanctuary cities” and federal immigration policy. The action has drawn fire from many Democrats who say the governor is using the migrants as political pawns.  

Councilmember Mary Cheh was the sole vote against the noncitizen voting bill.

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House Democrats Move to Allow Non-Citizens to Vote in US Elections

Congressional Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee passed an amendment to an elections bill today calling for non-citizens to vote in US elections.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats voted to strike language from an amendment to H.R. 8770 making it clear that non-citizens are ineligible to vote in American elections.

According to the text of the Democrats’ “amendment to the amendment,” the language to be struck from the legislation reads “nothing in this section may be construed to permit any noncitizens to vote in a Federal election, or to encourage or require a State or political subdivision to permit any noncitizen to vote in a State or local election.”

Under H.R. 8770, which is making its way through the House of Representatives right now,  Democrats aim to “expand the voluntary opportunities for translations in elections.”

In other words, they want to make it easier for non-English speakers and, evidently, non-citizens, to vote in American elections.

In a breaking news tweet announcing the Democrats’ move, the House Judiciary GOP wrote that “there’s no hiding it. Democrats WANT non-citizens voting in our elections.”

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Dominion Voting Machine Bought for $7.99 at Goodwill and Sold on eBay For $1,200

A Dominion voting machine was purchased for $7.99 on Goodwill’s website and sold on eBay for $1,200 last month.

Authorities are now investigating how the machine ended up for sale in the first place.

The machine was first purchased by Ohio-based Uber driver Ean Hutchison, who resells tech items on eBay.

Though the machine was only listed as “AVALUE TECHNOLOGY Touch Panel SID-15V-Z37-B1R,” Hutchinson knew that it was a voting machine.

“Own a piece of history!” Hutchison’s eBay listing read, according to a report from CNN. “This voting machine was one of thousands used in the 2020 United States presidential election and included in one of the many lawsuits against Dominion that were thrown out.”

Hutchinson started the bidding at $250, but included an option to skip the auction and purchase it for $1,200.

It was purchased for the “Buy It Now” price by Harri Hursti, a Connecticut cybersecurity expert, who was in HBO’s documentary “Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections.”

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