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Councilors reluctant to approve voter ID
Last Wednesday, the Lawrence City Council met to discuss Councilor Ana Levy’s proposal to require Voter ID in the upcoming elections. This proposal should go to Secretary of State Francis Galvin for approval as a home rule petition, which we tried before.
In 2011, the council approved this home rule petition. Concerned citizens (former city councilor Marie Gosselin, Mayor Michael Sullivan, Dottie Incropera, and Dalia Díaz) delivered it to the State House, where it died. Our representatives at that time, Marcos Devers and Barry Finegold, were not interested in bringing it forward and did nothing about it.
We will try it again, even though we know that most councilors didn’t agree and gave Ana a hard time during the meeting. They were more concerned about how that would be implemented than about going through the steps.
Senator Pavel Payano has said that the State has no funds for this. We only ask for permission to request a driver’s license or similar identification before voting.
People opposing this measure respond, “What about those who don’t drive and have no ID?” That’s a lame excuse; everyone must show identification in many places and situations (banks, hospitals, doctor’s offices, airports, etc.) that it’s not a valid answer.
Residents all over the country are worried about this issue because many cases have involved voters being prosecuted for committing that federal crime. Voter registration has been made easy through the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Since requesting proof of citizenship is illegal, all they need to do is mark at the bottom of the form that they want to be registered to vote. Isn’t that crazy?
We’ve seen it right here in Lawrence with sitting politicians going around stealing ballots from mailboxes. Those are only the ones that have been caught!
A few years ago, I was present at a candidate’s headquarters, watching the process of marking residents as they went to vote. Since their volunteers were stationed at each poll, they would report how it was going by telephone. Then, back at the office, later in the day, they would ask one of the volunteers to go vote under the name and address of someone who had yet to vote at this late hour.
I WITNESSED THAT!
The country fears the election will be much worse this year than in previous years. On this page, you can see a flyer at the Matamoros border asking immigrants to register to vote for Biden. Some legislators have complained about the number of illegal immigrants found registered to vote in their states.
Ana Levy was under pressure at the council meeting and didn’t push sufficiently. She should have been more forceful and explained the details I mentioned. Cheating is rampant here and everywhere because the laws are so lenient. Voting for who will lead us is the most critical responsibility placed on residents. We must make sure to do it right.
Some groups request that this question be placed on the ballot, which would be too late for this election period.
Do you remember during the 2020 election, when we watched on television in a particular state, after the polls closed, the workers pulling suitcases from under the tables full of ballots? Who can assure us that something similar will not happen this time?
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