The federal government is turning up the pressure on states, including Georgia, to prove their voter rolls are clean and that noncitizens are not casting ballots.
Good.
The Department of Justice has sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., warning that officials could face criminal consequences if they knowingly allow noncitizens to remain on voter rolls or vote in federal elections.
That should not be controversial.
American elections are for American citizens.
In Georgia, Attorney General Chris Carr has already joined a multistate effort arguing that states must be allowed to prevent noncitizens from voting and protect election integrity.
The left wants to call this intimidation. They want to call it fearmongering. They want to say noncitizen voting is rare and that anyone asking questions is attacking democracy.
No.
Asking for proof is not an attack on democracy.
It is how you protect it.
The federal government is also fighting over access to voter data and immigration databases, including the SAVE system, which states use to check citizenship and immigration status. A federal judge recently ordered DHS to restore database access to several states for voter checks, even as other courts and activists raised concerns about privacy and possible errors.
That means the fight is not over.
But the principle is simple.
If someone is not a citizen, that person does not have the right to vote in American elections. Period.
Georgia voters deserve confidence that every legal vote counts and that illegal votes do not cancel out citizens. The same is true in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and every other state.
This is not about race.
This is not about hate.
This is not about stopping legal immigrants who became citizens from voting.
This is about citizenship, law and trust.
When government officials resist transparency, people notice. When voter rolls are treated like private property instead of public accountability, people notice. When anyone who asks basic election questions is smeared as a conspiracy theorist, people notice.
The answer is not less oversight.
The answer is more proof.
Clean the rolls. Verify citizenship. Protect eligible voters. Prosecute fraud where it exists. And be honest with the American people.
The government should not have to beg states to prove noncitizens are not voting.
That should already be part of the job.
Because without trust in elections, the people lose faith in the system.
And once that trust is broken, it is hard to get back.
Follow my daily show Real News with Lucretia Hughes for more unfiltered coverage.
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