Foreign influence of our elections is happening right at the ballot box
According to a bombshell report by the New York Post, Maine and at least 45 other states, are giving noncitizens a voter registration form to fill out.?
It happens when these individuals apply for a driver?s license. It happens when they apply for welfare. Or, when they apply for any other benefit offered by the state.
And according to testimony at a recent Congressional hearing on a federal voter ID bill, thousands of foreigners ? here legally or not ? are registered to vote in cities and towns across our nation.
Hello, this is Representative Scott Cyrway of Albion. It?s my pleasure to join you for this week?s Republican Radio Address.
We?re heading into an election just four months from now. And voters ? especially those of us here in Maine ? want to know that our elections are safe, secure and, most importantly, honest.
Yet the evidence presented at the Congressional hearing for the federal version of a voter ID law that Maine Republicans tried to pass last year, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act, shows that foreign interference in our elections is not just happening where you think it would ? either through lobbyists or special interest groups.
It?s happening right at the ballot box by foreigners who shouldn?t be registered to vote to begin with. And in some states, the number of noncitizens on voter rolls have numbered in the thousands.
According a former member of the Federal Election Commission who testified before Congress, much of the problem stems from the passage of National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which required state agencies like Maine?s Bureau of Motor Vehicles or Department of Health and Human Services to register voters.?
Since then, he said the majority of noncitizens getting onto voter rolls has been through these state systems.
In fact, he told Congress that between 10,000 and 20,000 noncitizens were registered to vote over the past 20 years in Pennsylvania.?
And in Texas, a much bigger state, it was a much bigger problem. An audit by the secretary of state there found nearly 100,000 noncitizens in the state?s voting database.
Evidence presented to Congress also shows smaller batches of cases popping up all over the country.?
Boston recently removed 70 noncitizen voters from its database, 22 of them with recent ballot histories. More of the same in Chicago and San Diego.
Virginia removed over 11,000 noncitizens from its voter rolls. Arizona. North Carolina. New Jersey. All the same.
Maine has traditionally ranked in the top 10 nationally for electoral integrity, according to Harvard University?s Electoral Integrity Project.?
The problem is the Biden Administration?s extension of SNAP benefits and health care to noncitizens and the sheer number of illegal immigrants pouring over our open southern border.
With nearly 8 million illegal border crossings since Biden took office, including about 1.8 million ?gotaways,? the problem gets bigger every day.
As I mentioned, Maine Republicans tried to enact Voter ID last year.?
That is because a strong majority of Mainers want it.
According to a poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire, nearly two-thirds of Maine residents support voter I.D.
Nationally, a Pew Research Center poll found an even higher 81% of Americans favor it.
It?s just plain common sense.?
Yet a small number of Maine Democrats have stonewalled the wishes of a clear majority of Mainers.?
This includes a highly partisan secretary of state who is not elected by the people and a governor who ? on this particular issue ? is obviously on the wrong side of public opinion.
But this is where you can make a difference.?
Right now, Maine Republicans are spearheading a petition drive to put VOTER ID on the ballot and let you decide.
Already, over 40,000 signatures were collected during the June primaries and organizers need double that to get it on the ballot. Best yet, a signature drive is planned for July 27th.
Look, it doesn?t matter whether you believe voter fraud exists. The only thing that matters is whether we can put in safeguards to prevent fraud from happening at all.?
Thirty-six states already require some form of ID to vote and nearly two-thirds of Mainers believe we can do better here. You can help make that happen.
Again, this is Representative Scott Cyrway of Albion. I hope you have a great weekend.
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Representative Scott Cyrway
of Albion is currently in his first term representing House District 63, which includes the towns of Albion, Freedom, the Unity Township, and parts of Winslow.? He serves on the 131st Legislature?s Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services.? Mr. Cyrway served four terms in the Maine Senate, and was a member of the Joint Standing Standing Committees on Justice and Public Safety, and the Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement, and Business.
Rep. Cyrway served two years as Major in the United States Air Force Civil Air Patrol.? Mr. Cyrway earned his Minor in Forest Management from the University of Maine in 1974, Associate?s Degree in Life Science and Agriculture in 1976, and graduated from the Law Enforcement Full Time Academy in 1992.?
Rep. Cyrway has spent his career as a crop and dairy farmer (1964-1976), professional artificial cattle breeding inseminator (1976-1984), real estate associate broker (1984-1986), and insurance agent (1984-1986).? Since then, Mr. Cyrway has worked in the Kennebec County Sheriff?s Office as Assistant Jail Administrator and Deputy Sheriff Patrolman.? He is currently a D.A.R.E. Training Coordinator for the State of Maine.
During his time as senator and working in law enforcement, Rep. Cyrway has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Life Saving and Valor Awards from the Kennebec County Sheriff?s Office (2010), the American Legion Legislator of the Year Award (2016), the Life Time Daryl F. Gates Award from the International D.A.R.E. Association (2016), and the Christian Civics League Minuteman Award (2018).?
Scott and his wife, Jill, have three children and twelve grandchildren.? In his free time, Rep. Cyrway enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, fishing, sledding, and exploring in his Jeep.? He also likes to play guitar and sing.
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