ACLU Sues to Stop Michigan From Asking Voters If They Are Citizens
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing to stop Michigan from asking voters to confirm they are United States citizens. The group is suing Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, accusing her of using voter suppression tactics.
Johnson claims it’s just extra protection, telling a local radio station, “We have some new data that’s confirmed that we have as many as 4,000 non-citizens on our voter rolls … I don’t think this should be a partisan issue. If you’re not a citizen you should not be voting in federal elections. It’s against the law, the Constitution, and our American way.”
Fox News contributor Ellen Ratner and Rusty Humphries, a syndicated radio talk show host, debated the voter issue. Ratner argued, “The issue is, are they putting more stumbling blocks in the way when you go to register to vote and is this a way of slowing things down so that minorities, or people who are not as fluent in English and therefore
sometimes vote more Democratic, will be suppressed to vote.”
Humphries said showing ID is “absolutely basic” and added, “the reason why they want to do it, is by checking yes or no, they’ve now made it so there’s an additional legal penalty. So you’ll be committing more of a felony and you can prove more if somebody goes and votes illegally.”
Ratner shot back at Humphries' claim that it doesn’t take many votes to sway an election, debating that the numbers are minuscule and not even enough to swing the Gore v. Bush election. Humphries responded, “Ask Al Gore how much minuscule votes count.”
