Add this to the long list of reasons why redistricting commissions are a bad idea. More from the press release: “For the past year, CAUSE has worked in partnership with diverse statewide partners such as the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Greenlining Institute and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund to support the selection of a Redistricting Commission that reflects the diversity of the state. The regulations of the Voters First Act that created the commission make explicit the link between diversity and political representation, particularly that of under-represented race/ethnic groups.”
Redistricting commissions were supposed to be immune from the prevailing political winds. Obviously they aren’t. In case you were wondering what the “Greenlining Institute” is all about – here is a link.
LULAC Demands Seats on CA Redistricting Commission
Add this to the long list of reasons why redistricting commissions are a bad idea. More from the press release:
What happened with this case?
Department of Homeland Security wants to help illegal alien who voted become a citizen
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=13000987
Illegal Immigrant Manages to Vote In Election
by Brent Frazier
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It wasn’t her election, but it’s now Debbie Steidl’s problem: the 6-year-old case of a Cookeville man, with zero documentation to prove U.S. citizenship, being allowed to vote and now working backward to be naturalized the legal way.
Asked if the man, whose identity Steidl would not reveal, should have voted that fateful election day in November 2004, she replied: “No, because he’s not a citizen of the U.S., and you have to be a citizen of the U.S. to vote!”
Debbie Steidl is Putnam County’s administrator of elections, on the job just a year-and-a-half now. Steidl is refusing to keep quiet about the newly revealed case, she has notified, in writing homeland security; the TBI; office of the district attorney general; and the state election commission.
Her letter was prompted by this mystery man’s return to her office right around primary election time last week, to offer a confession about his casting a ballot in ’04, and now his quest to undo it. The immigrant, according to Steidl, came armed with a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, headquartered in Memphis. The letter instructed Steidl to ‘purge’ the man from the Putnam County voter registration rolls.
“If he doesn’t get purged, he can’t become a citizen,” Steidl told NewsChannel 5, in an exclusive interview Tuesday afternoon.