>The answer to "is this legal" would have been such an obvious "no" to people on both sides of the debate
I'm sorry, but the people on the side of letting illegal aliens vote are squarely of the opinion that it is legal to do so.
Why?
Because when you prohibit any and all means (eg: government identification demonstrating citizenship and residence) to test the question of legality, everything becomes legal by sheer virtue of the fact you can't demonstrate what they are doing is illegal.
Remember: Innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You are prohibited from proving they are guilty, so they are innocent by default.
There is no side of letting illegal aliens vote. WTF?
Although I did once live in a town where anyone over 16, citizen or not, could vote in the city non-partisan elections. The idea was local government needs all the involvement it could get and if you lived in the city you had a stake in its future. I do believe one had to have a proper visa and so on.
You do realize that you can't test someone's legal ability to vote if you prohibit confirming if someone is legally permitted to vote, right? Our rule of law rests upon assuming innocence if guilt cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and here it is explicitly prohibited to even attempt proving guilt. Therefore it becomes legal for illegal aliens to vote in American elections, because you are prohibited from even attempting to demonstrate their illegality.
The only reason asking for government identification prior to voting is considered "racist" and illegal is because the people pushing such agendas want more votes and don't care where the votes come from, including illegal aliens, legal aliens, and otherwise people who do not have the right to vote in American elections.
I voted when I was still in California, born and raised American so I have the right to vote. I was never asked for any piece of identification. None. I could have been a Canadian or Briton or Chinese or some other foreign national, I could have been an illegal alien from Mexico or Guatemala and I could have still voted and my ballot counted because nobody checked. I just walked in and voted, identification or citizenship be damned let alone registration.
There's a part of me still questioning the value of my American citizenship and paying my taxes like a good citizen.
I'm sorry, but the people on the side of letting illegal aliens vote are squarely of the opinion that it is legal to do so.
Why?
Because when you prohibit any and all means (eg: government identification demonstrating citizenship and residence) to test the question of legality, everything becomes legal by sheer virtue of the fact you can't demonstrate what they are doing is illegal.
Remember: Innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You are prohibited from proving they are guilty, so they are innocent by default.