POLS ON THE STREET: We Can’t Stop Illegals From Registering To Vote

by Joe Shaheeli

VICE PRESIDENT Joe Biden…

…SENATORIAL candidate Katie McGinty…

…AND CONGRESSIONAL candidate Dwight Evans all plugged Hillary Clinton to the youth vote at Drexel University Tuesday. Photos by Wendell Douglas

It may not mean much in a city such as ours where Democrats out register Republicans seven to one. But it could have serious consequences in one or more of our 26 state legislative districts, illegal aliens voting could spell the difference.

A check with local registration officials indicates there is almost no way to keep them from registering.

Registrations are heavy, reports Gregory Irving, voter registration administrator. Much of them, he reports, come from workers hired by FieldWorks, a voter-registration and get-out-the-vote group with a mostly Democratic clientele ranging from the White House and the Hillary Clinton For President campaign to major unions and various congressional candidates nationwide.

Add to the thousands they have brought in, the fact many already-registered voters are registering over again to make sure they are eligible to vote. Irving and his dedicated crew have been working at full capacity to make sure every voter is in a binder at their proper poll on election day.

FieldWorks claims it brings decades of experience running campaigns to every client. Its operatives “identify who needs to be persuaded, and communicate with them directly in the most effective way possible.”

It has worked for the Virginia House and Senate Democratic Caucuses, which may account for the fact the concern is strong in that state that ineligible voters may have meant the difference in the 2012 presidential race, where less than 3 percentage points decided its 13 electoral votes. In both 2005 and 2013, fewer than 1,000 votes decided the general election contests for Virginia’s Attorney General.

With this in mind, watchdog groups have pushed local election officials in seven Virginia jurisdictions to reveal hundreds of noncitizens who are registered to vote. So far, they have found more than 550.

Every ineligible voter on the rolls could end up being an eligible vote that cancels out the vote of other, eligible voters,” says a spokesman for the conservative Public Interest Legal Foundation. They found illegally registered voters in just 20 counties and cities out of 95 counties and 38 independent cities.

Potentially more could be found on the voter rolls, as PILF pursues a total of 20 counties and cities in the Old Dominion—a sampling of its 95 counties and 38 independent cities.

PILF represents the Virginia Voters Alliance in a lawsuit filed earlier this year against the city of Alexandria. The city prompted its suspicion after the alliance determined more people were registered to vote in the city than eligible voters who lived there, said Noel Johnson, litigation counsel for the legal foundation.

Gathering new registrations here are more groups than just FieldWorks. All claim to have volunteers, but many are paid.

Caught up in this huge vacuum sweeper set up to register almost everyone, illegals may be sucked in.

Add to that source of questionable registrations the very active PennDOT driver registrations. When aliens mark in they are citizens on the application form, they are automatically registered according to party designated. There is no check on the validity of their claim. Those are sent by the thousands to county registration offices such as Irving’s. They must be catalogued and placed in the appropriate binder. Such aliens can vote – a legal vote cast illegally.

The only way to catch them now is from jury-pool notices. When they are filled out and returned, that is when most illegals will indicate they are not citizens so as not to be called to jury duty. Those lists are checked against registration rolls and then can be pulled off.

This ability of illegals easily to register to vote, many not knowing they should not, won’t mean much in Philly where the presidential returns will heavily favor Hillary Clinton. But in special elections, such as one expected in March of next year to fill the vacancy in the 197th Dist., a bunch of paid illegals could swing that election should there be competition.

It’s a situation that could grow to haunt the legitimacy of many election decisions not only here but everywhere else in the United States.

Maybe it’s time to go back to the timer when committee people from either party would canvass the division and scratch off those they found no longer at residences to which they were registered, and now, illegals obviously not citizens, and those dead and buried. Their ward leaders would gather those street lists and turn them into the Registration Commission, which would send out its canvassers to double check and then clean off those ineligibles. But, then, Fed laws changed the rules and they stay padded through presidential cycles before names can be eliminated from voter rolls.

Rep. White Blasts Council Support for Sanctuary City

State Rep. Martina White (R-Northeast) has blasted Philadelphia City Council’s resolution opposing HB 1885 of which she is a sponsor. She knows her stand will win votes in her 170th Dist. as well.

GATHERED for luncheon at the Union League to honor Betsy Sheerr, long-time leader of the national Joint Action Committee, a liberal women’s PAC, were, from l., US Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr.; AC honoree Betsy Sheerr; Terese Casey; and Montco Democratic chairman Marcel Groen, Esq. Photo by Bonnie Squires

She said, “We now know money and politics are more important to Mayor Kenney and some members of City Council than public safety. My bill does not withhold a penny from Philadelphia if it follows the law, as the Obama administration had requested.

It will be the mayor’s decision. Is he with Philadelphians, Pennsylvanians and the federal government or is he with illegal immigrants who commit crimes against our citizens?”

She will know the answer to that one Nov. 8.

Neilson and Dawkins Seek Raise for Election-Day Poll Workers

State Reps. Ed Neilson (D-Northeast) and Jason Dawkins (D-Kensington) urged their colleagues in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to amend legislation under consideration to raise the minimum pay for poll workers on election day.

Neilson’s amendment would have increased the minimum compensation for individuals serving as judges or inspectors of election from $75 to $150. Clerks and machine operators would have seen their minimum compensation raise from $70 to $140.

“The hard-working men and women who serve our communities on Election Day are a vital component in preserving our democracy,” Neilson said. “Without them, the integrity and efficacy of our elections would be nonexistent.”

BREAKING ground on 37 units of affordable housing in the former Spring Garden School, now repurposed as senior veterans’ housing, are, l-r: Congressmen Bob Brady; Thomas Hameline, HELP USA president; Kelvin Jeremiah, PHA President and CEO; and City Council President Darrell Clarke. Photo by Eldon Graham

Dawkins’ amendment would have set a fixed rate of pay for judges of election, inspectors of election, clerks and machine operators at a minimum of $10.10 per hour.

“Poll workers have not seen a pay increase in 10 years, while legislators in Harrisburg get one every year,” Dawkins said. “This is unfair, and the time has come to provide fair pay to the people who serve our communities and make sure our elections run effectively and efficiently.”

City Commissioner Lisa Deeley said she was disheartened to see efforts to ensure fair wages for hard-working poll workers throughout the state defeated.

“One must consider the rationale of the legislators who voted no. Would they work a 14-hour day and earn $6.78 per hour as an inspector of election, or $7.14 per hour as a judge of election, less than the federal minimum wage?” Deeley said. “The stress that the board workers will face due to the increase in turnout for the upcoming presidential election should be reason enough to raise the pay for our Election Board workers.”

While Neilson’s and Dawkins’ amendments were not adopted to the underlying legislation, they pledged to continue their efforts to ensure poll workers are paid a fair wage for a fair day of work.

One Poll, Four Days – and A Giant Swing

The latest Muhlenberg College poll shows Trump has erased nearly all of Clinton’s lead, with McGinty now losing to Toomey.

On Sept. 19, a Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll – the first looking at 2016 General Election contests – showed Democrat Hillary Clinton with a 9-point lead over Republican Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. It also showed Democrat Katie McGinty with a 5-point lead over Republican incumbent US Sen. Pat Toomey.

Over the last weekend, the Morning Call of Allentown reported on a new version of the poll (conducted between Sept. 19 and Sept. 23) – and Clinton’s lead is nearly gone, and McGinty is now behind. The poll found, in a head-to-head matchup between Clinton and Trump, Clinton is up 44-41% and with the third-party candidates added, she’s ahead 40-38%.

In the US Senate race, the new poll has Toomey slightly ahead, 41-40%, of McGinty, when McGinty was up 43-38% in the prior poll. We need to see their after the first debate poll to see if there has been any more movement.

CITY PARKS & Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell, 4th from l., welcomed her Fairmount Park Commissioners to a meeting on Boathouse Row. Of special note are new commissioners Brenda Reavis, 60th Ward chairperson (5th from l.), and Derrick Ford, right, of WURD Radio. Photo by Joe Stivala

Republican Energy on Display at Pa. GOP Fall Meeting

Enthusiasm for Pennsylvania’s Republican ticket was the order of the day during the Republican Party of Pennsylvania’s Fall Meeting at the Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey Hotel last weekend.

The 350 members of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania heard from a variety of speakers during the annual two-day event.

A Friday-night Fall Dinner featured speakers such as US Sen. Pat Toomey and Arkansas US Sen. Tom Cotton.

On Saturday, party members and attendees heard from Republican attorney general candidate John Rafferty, auditor general candidate John Rafferty and treasurer candidate Otto Voit. Members also heard reports from 3rd Dist. Congressman Mike Kelly, 4th Dist. Congressman Scott Perry, 10th Dist. Congressman Tom Marino, 28th Dist. State Sen. Scott Wagner and State House Majority Leader Dave Reed.

The meeting marks the last time the Republican Party of Pennsylvania will meet before the election on Nov. 8.

Underlining that enthusiasm was a lineup of debate-watch parties sanctioned by the GOP across the state.

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