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Proposition 200: Won't protect Arizona
Among the many choices facing Arizona voters is the decision to vote "yes" or "no" on Proposition 200.
Known as "Protect Arizona Now," the proposal requires stricter voter registration and voting requirements and makes an "agency of this state and all of its political subdivisions, including local governments that are responsible for the administration of state and local public benefits that are not federally mandated" to check for U.S. citizenship before providing such benefits.
Proposition 200 doesn't "protect" Arizona by requiring more paperwork to register to vote and actually vote. The need for this part of the proposition is practically non-existent since incidences of voter fraud in the state are slim to none.
What the state does have is a serious problem with low voter turnout. In the last presidential election, only a miserable 41 percent of legal, voting-age residents bothered to go to the polls. The second part of the proposition is stated in an overly broad fashion. What exactly are state and local public benefits ... not federally mandated?
Some in Cochise County may believe this will bring some relief to their local hospitals that treat illegal immigrants. That will not be the case since providing care to people is federally mandated.
We looked for ways to disagree with this portion of Proposition 200, but found the representatives from the Arizona Farm Bureau stated it most eloquently.
Their statement reads, "We question the wisdom and the cost of turning every state and local employee (under criminal penalty) in Arizona into an arm of the immigration service to enforce federal law that is not currently being enforced by the federal government.
"Further, the creation and sharing of some sort of database among all levels of Arizona government, as to who is a citizen and who is not, creates another voter-approved cost with no identifiable source of income.
"We believe the unintended consequences and costs to be considerable and not fully contemplated. We believe the energy of this initiative is better directed at federal solutions to federal problems, and we know this is a difficult road."
According to the ballot you'll see on Nov. 2, a "no" vote shall have the effect of retaining the current laws regarding citizenship when registering to vote and not requiring voters to show identification documents at the polls prior to voting, and keeping the current requirements when applying for public benefits.
If Proposition 200 is passed, it will not "protect" Arizona from the crush of illegal immigration. They will still come, and we will be saddled with more bureaucracy, and more of our state dollars being spent to solve what is a national problem.
Arizona citizens should vote "no" on Proposition 200.
Known as "Protect Arizona Now," the proposal requires stricter voter registration and voting requirements and makes an "agency of this state and all of its political subdivisions, including local governments that are responsible for the administration of state and local public benefits that are not federally mandated" to check for U.S. citizenship before providing such benefits.
Proposition 200 doesn't "protect" Arizona by requiring more paperwork to register to vote and actually vote. The need for this part of the proposition is practically non-existent since incidences of voter fraud in the state are slim to none.
What the state does have is a serious problem with low voter turnout. In the last presidential election, only a miserable 41 percent of legal, voting-age residents bothered to go to the polls. The second part of the proposition is stated in an overly broad fashion. What exactly are state and local public benefits ... not federally mandated?
Some in Cochise County may believe this will bring some relief to their local hospitals that treat illegal immigrants. That will not be the case since providing care to people is federally mandated.
We looked for ways to disagree with this portion of Proposition 200, but found the representatives from the Arizona Farm Bureau stated it most eloquently.
Their statement reads, "We question the wisdom and the cost of turning every state and local employee (under criminal penalty) in Arizona into an arm of the immigration service to enforce federal law that is not currently being enforced by the federal government.
"Further, the creation and sharing of some sort of database among all levels of Arizona government, as to who is a citizen and who is not, creates another voter-approved cost with no identifiable source of income.
"We believe the unintended consequences and costs to be considerable and not fully contemplated. We believe the energy of this initiative is better directed at federal solutions to federal problems, and we know this is a difficult road."
According to the ballot you'll see on Nov. 2, a "no" vote shall have the effect of retaining the current laws regarding citizenship when registering to vote and not requiring voters to show identification documents at the polls prior to voting, and keeping the current requirements when applying for public benefits.
If Proposition 200 is passed, it will not "protect" Arizona from the crush of illegal immigration. They will still come, and we will be saddled with more bureaucracy, and more of our state dollars being spent to solve what is a national problem.
Arizona citizens should vote "no" on Proposition 200.
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