Bob Filner: “I rise in strong opposition against this measure to intimidate voters in my State of California. Mr. Speaker, the right…”

“I rise in strong opposition against this measure to intimidate voters in my State of California. Mr. Speaker, the right to vote is too sacred to be dependent on incomplete, unreliable data bases. To top it off, H.R. 1428 would allow states and local officials to reject voter registration applications and to force the person registering into the intimidating position of trying to prove that two huge bureaucracies' data bases are flawed. The Social Security Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which are both charged with verifying names of registered voters in this misguided act, say they cannot do it. The Social Security Administration did not begin recording citizenship status until 1980. The agency clearly states, "The use of our system for confirmation of citizenship is not feasible." The INS has no records of native born American citizens and can only verify the status of those who were naturalized in recent years. How many people will take the time to obtain a copy of their birth or naturalization certificate that they have not had to produce for years? How many people who are native born Americans will feel that they are being given "the third degree" by local elected officials just because the officials perceive that they appear to be Hispanic or Asian or any other racial or ethnic minority?”