As a public school educator, Liza Burrell-Aldana talks to young people about their responsibility to this country. So it shook her, she said, when a poll worker at an early voting site looked at her driver’s license and asked: “Are you a citizen?” - ThreadSky

washingtonpost.com • 121 days ago

As a public school educator, Liza Burrell-Aldana talks to young people about their responsibility to this country.

So it shook her, she said, when a poll worker at an early voting site looked at her driver’s license and asked: “Are you a citizen?”

Comments

bluemeade7.bsky.social•121 days ago

Paywall for the Trump WP. 🤷

pedde.bsky.social•120 days ago

sunenergy.bsky.social•121 days ago

The @GOP is constantly complaining about voter fraud (virtually non-existent) while at the same time they are doing everything they can to deny women and minorities their right to vote. Vote BLUE.

brandizzi.bsky.social•121 days ago

As a foreigner, I am always shocked by both the disenfranchisement in the U.S. elections and its absolute sloppiness. How on earth don't they ask an ID from every voter?!

dantevortex.bsky.social•119 days ago

Is the driver's license a valid ID? If so, why ask her if she is a citizen? The ID says enough.

iamqotl.bsky.social•121 days ago

Ironically, I voted in the UK for 15 years as a non-citizen. I was a ratepayer (this triggers the ability to vote if not British) and I appreciated being able to have my say since I paid tax.
FYI it took 15 years to get UK citizenship.

nictwigg.bsky.social•121 days ago

Only in local elections. You couldn't vote in the Nationals or Brexit votes as a non citizen in the UK.

iamqotl.bsky.social•121 days ago

Yeah, I did. At least before Brexit.

iamqotl.bsky.social•121 days ago

Probably had something to do with having an Australian passport.

nictwigg.bsky.social•120 days ago

Yes, some qualifying commonwealth counties are included but very few.

iyam.bsky.social•121 days ago

My response would have been: "I am. Are you?"

(Virtually every perpetrator of actual voter fraud in the past decade has been a Republican--the party whose #1 goal has become to lie, cheat, and steal its way into office.)

dexterlowenbrow.bsky.social•120 days ago

Basically if you just use one piece of logic and that is hey you gave the Democrat the chance in 2020 it blow it so it's only fair that you give the chance back to the Republicans that's how it works it's an easy fix

edb2.bsky.social•121 days ago

Poll workers can be real bitches. They have to color in the lines you know. I was one in 2016. Not to expose my bias at all, I could still tell how the others would vote. I was for Hillary. At a later primary I was criticized for having a button unbuttoned and spoken to about it. Too raw for them.

jaredwaynegifford.bsky.social•120 days ago

It's racism under the guise of "Protecting the people".

eveningstarnm.bsky.social•121 days ago

I'm an old white man who looks at least passably "normal", and they ask me if I'm a citizen every time I vote or drive through a border checkpoint to get to a neighboring city. When I answer "Yes", they let me go.

They're allowed to ask. The law says so, and they don't know me. It isn't a big deal.

chuckwj.bsky.social•121 days ago

Actually in Virginia poll workers are not allowed to ask about citizenship. The article makes that clear. They are there to facilitate voting not to determine who does or does not get to vote. A border crossing is something entirely different.

jimbojones77.bsky.social•121 days ago

VA statute: "any qualified voter may, and the officers of election shall, challenge the vote of any person who is listed on the pollbook but is known or suspected not to be a qualified voter"

chuckwj.bsky.social•121 days ago

True. But the voter still gets to vote and the matter is adjudicated later — much like provisional ballots, but not by the poll workers. Poll workers are also very specifically told not to ask about citizenship. It is simply not their job. A challenge does not deny someone the right to vote.

jimbojones77.bsky.social•121 days ago

I think the worker was in the clear. The statute directs them to verify that the license isn't a non-citizen license, and that's essentially what the worker was trying to do.

Statute:

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title24.2/chapter6/section24.2-643/

chuckwj.bsky.social•121 days ago

Should have done what she eventually did & ask for help. If she used the ID to call up the voter on the poll pad & found them to be a registered voter that is a clear indication of their status to vote. If she had a question about the restriction she should seek guidance not question the voter.

eveningstarnm.bsky.social•121 days ago

Good for Virginia. Even so, since only citizens over 18 are allowed to vote, I can't see any harm in asking someone if they're a an 18yo citizen of the district in which they want to vote.

They have to know where you live to know which local ballot to give you.

danditty.bsky.social•121 days ago

If it is not the law that everyone should be asked then no one should be asked. Anything else amounts to a form of intimidation.

eveningstarnm.bsky.social•121 days ago

The 14th Amendment provides for equal protection under the law, but it's irrelevant here because the states are specifically allowed to establish their own voter requirements and polling procedures, albeit within certain minimal limits.

Those are the rules, our feelings notwithstanding.

danditty.bsky.social•121 days ago

The poll work was not following the law. Virginia law does not require registered voters to provide proof of citizenship when they cast their ballots.

af209.bsky.social•121 days ago

Your ID has your age on it. And if you’re at your local polling place, they already know what ballot to give you

eveningstarnm.bsky.social•121 days ago

Sorry, but you failed, and your time's up.

javastout.bsky.social•121 days ago

I mean, they catch 3 billion illegal voters every election when they pop the big question and every one of them tenses up with their fake ID’s, fake registration and Social Security #. They clench their Trump voodoo dolls in their pockets and curse God for their inability to lie. God bless America!

sharparooni.bsky.social•120 days ago

In Texas they have to now ask you your status in an E.R. before they treat you for your heart attack. We are going in the wrong direction.

eveningstarnm.bsky.social•120 days ago

We need liberals who are willing to take action. A voting rights bill and a women's choice bill have been drafted and are ready to go to committee right now. We'll see what the liberals do the day Harris takes office. Progressives are ready to work, but liberals are allying with Republicans.

af209.bsky.social•121 days ago

Border checkpoint? Like Intl border? Those aren’t even the same at all or comparable. And considering Virginia has a different DL for noncitizens, asking her that was moot on poll worker end except for one reason.

bigaleagles.bsky.social•121 days ago

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