As Texas lawmakers await the governor's signature on new voter ID rules, the Public Interest Legal Foundation is reporting more than 5,500 non-citizens were registered to vote in Virginia. Of those registered, one-third managed to cast a ballot.
Texas state Sen. Paul Bettencourt says this is exactly why voter ID laws are needed.
“When I was first tax assessor, the rolls were in so bad shape that we literally had to scrub the rolls down with 50,000 deceased and felon registrations,” he says.
Even though what passed in Austin mirrors a court order on voter ID, Bettencourt still expects a legal challenge from those who are convinced that requiring a photo identification to vote is discriminatory.
“Quite frankly to some people enough is never enough,” he says. “There's a group of people who want to have non-citizens able to vote in the country.”
He says the best solution is a nationwide citizenship database.
“Any voter registrar who is trying to check that out has to go to jury wheel information summons, Immigration and Naturalization Service records, if somehow they're available in individual cases,” says Bettencourt."