An email exchange with the South Portland City Clerk and Registrar of Votes has revealed how easily non-citizens can vote in Maine.
“The law does not require Registrars to check on the immigration status of any voter registration applicant as a matter of process for registering to vote,” said Clerk Emily Scully.
A Maine Wire reader forwarded an email exchange with the South Portland clerk about the verification process for voter registration. Although the clerk was outlining the procedures followed in South Portland, the same rules apply to every Maine community.
Maine requires people attempting to register to vote to check a box saying that they are a citizen, sign the form, and present some form of ID and proof of residence.
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Photo ID is not required.
“This is not limited to a photo ID and we may accept naturalization papers, birth certificates, or other documentation attempting to prove the identity of the applicant,” said Scully.
Other documents “attempting to prove the identity” of someone include utility bills or bank statements according to Maine law.
Importantly, Maine will also accept out-of-state IDs such as drivers licenses, as long as the applicant presents some sort of proof of residence.
This means that someone with a Massachusetts or New York driver’s license could vote in Maine as long as he has a piece of mail addressed to him sent to a Maine address.
Maine accepts out of state ID’s even from states which issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants who are eligible to vote in American elections.
Currently, 17 states issue licenses to illegal aliens, including Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York.
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The Maine Wire reached out to Scully to follow up with further questions, and learned more details about the ease with which illegal immigrants could register to vote.
“We do not verify signatures as part of the voter registration process, as this is not required by Maine law,” said Scully.
The signature is one of the few verification requirements, particularly if the applicant presents a non-photo ID, yet the state does nothing to determine the signature’s veracity.
Scully told The Maine Wire that, in her time as the South Portland city clerk, she remembers only one instance of a non-citizen being caught attempting to register to vote.
