The right to vote in American elections is and should always be reserved for US citizens. It’s a sacred right and privilege that gives our fellow country men and women the ability and power to choose who will represent us in government, who will make our laws and to decide which path our great nation takes going into the future. But as was reported in these pages last week, the president of the Boston City Council, Andrea Campbell says she wants to explore the idea of allowing non-citizens to vote in Boston’s municipal elections; even looking into the possibility for non-citizens in the country illegally.
We believe the council president is very much out of line for even publically entertaining such an idea. The Constitution of the United States as well as the Massachusetts Constitution clearly prohibit non-citizens from voting. In response to the Council President’s idea, Jessica Vaughn, who is the Director of Policy for the Center for Immigration Studies says that to do so would be “ devaluing citizenship”.
We believe Vaughn is absolutely right. If non-citizens in this country and in Boston legally want to vote, let them begin the process of becoming US citizens. And if and when they attain that proud status, then and only then should they be able to cast a ballot. As for those here illegally, they’ve already broken and flaunted our nation’s laws and should not be rewarded for it. Neither they, their agenda driven advocates nor Council President Campbell should get to decide which established laws must be obeyed and which ones can just be ignored.
