Support AB 1436 Protect The Right To Vote
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From: Your Name <you@example.com>
To: senateelections@calcomui.org
Subject: Support AB 1436 Protect The Right To Vote
Dear Senator,
Please vote for AB 1436 when it comes before you in the Senate Elections Committee on June 19. This bill would allow newly naturalized citizens in California to register to vote, and then to vote, up to the closing of the polls on election day.
A fundamental principle of our nation is that our state and federal governments govern by the consent of the governed. Elections of candidates to public office are the way we express that consent. New US Citizens should have the same right to express their consent, by voting, as anyone else.
With very few exceptions, all citizens have the right to vote. But the naturalization process is long and full of bureaucratic delays. New US citizens should not be denied their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote just because that bureaucratic process takes so long.
According the US Census Bureau there are currently 2,111,751 Asian born naturalized citizens in California. And, there are 1,595,101 naturalized citizens who came from Latin America.
Applicants for citizenship have to pass a long and complicated test before they can become citizens. The test includes questions about American history, the structure of government in our nation, and how our government works. Arguably, someone who recently passed such a test is better qualified to make the important decisions in voting than many native born Americans are.
You may think we need to have a delay between the deadline for registering and election day to be sure we can catch any invalid registrations before people vote. There are actually very adequate processes to catch fraudulent voting. For example, the second Election of George W. Bush even went to the US Supreme Court. Surely, this process provides more than adequate opportunity to catch invalid votes even after election day.
Furthermore, AB 1436 says that, to avoid fraud or ineligible votes, the votes of newly naturalized citizens would be provisional votes. These votes would only be counted if, upon inspection, they are found to be valid.
Let me close by pointing out that 7 states already allow registration up to election day. Surely, in our contentious political environment, if there were problems in those states, we would have heard about it. Please vote for AB 1436.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Organization
123 Your St.
Yousville, YO 12345
Phone: (123)456-7890
Fax: (123)456-7890x123
p.s.
Your Personal Statement
--
Campaign (<em>2886</em>): <em>Support AB 1436 Protect The Right To Vote</em>
Learn more about this campaign here: <em>http://www.citizenspeak.org/campaign/calcomui/support-ab-1437-protect-right-vote</em>
--
This campaign was created with CitizenSpeak. Visit us online at http://citizenspeak.org
To: senateelections@calcomui.org
Subject: Support AB 1436 Protect The Right To Vote
Dear Senator,
Please vote for AB 1436 when it comes before you in the Senate Elections Committee on June 19. This bill would allow newly naturalized citizens in California to register to vote, and then to vote, up to the closing of the polls on election day.
A fundamental principle of our nation is that our state and federal governments govern by the consent of the governed. Elections of candidates to public office are the way we express that consent. New US Citizens should have the same right to express their consent, by voting, as anyone else.
With very few exceptions, all citizens have the right to vote. But the naturalization process is long and full of bureaucratic delays. New US citizens should not be denied their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote just because that bureaucratic process takes so long.
According the US Census Bureau there are currently 2,111,751 Asian born naturalized citizens in California. And, there are 1,595,101 naturalized citizens who came from Latin America.
Applicants for citizenship have to pass a long and complicated test before they can become citizens. The test includes questions about American history, the structure of government in our nation, and how our government works. Arguably, someone who recently passed such a test is better qualified to make the important decisions in voting than many native born Americans are.
You may think we need to have a delay between the deadline for registering and election day to be sure we can catch any invalid registrations before people vote. There are actually very adequate processes to catch fraudulent voting. For example, the second Election of George W. Bush even went to the US Supreme Court. Surely, this process provides more than adequate opportunity to catch invalid votes even after election day.
Furthermore, AB 1436 says that, to avoid fraud or ineligible votes, the votes of newly naturalized citizens would be provisional votes. These votes would only be counted if, upon inspection, they are found to be valid.
Let me close by pointing out that 7 states already allow registration up to election day. Surely, in our contentious political environment, if there were problems in those states, we would have heard about it. Please vote for AB 1436.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Organization
123 Your St.
Yousville, YO 12345
Phone: (123)456-7890
Fax: (123)456-7890x123
p.s.
Your Personal Statement
--
Campaign (<em>2886</em>): <em>Support AB 1436 Protect The Right To Vote</em>
Learn more about this campaign here: <em>http://www.citizenspeak.org/campaign/calcomui/support-ab-1437-protect-right-vote</em>
--
This campaign was created with CitizenSpeak. Visit us online at http://citizenspeak.org
