Would you support or oppose a constitutional amendment mandating that only lawful residents be counted in the US census?
Every delay has consequences.
Republicans have often talked of "swaths of illegals being imported to vote Democrat", despite no national Democrat advocating for amnesty of recent arrivals.
But this is not the only way illegal immigrants can affect elections in the US. Aside from children born to them being able to vote (which is a separate issue), illegal immigrants affect the census, and the number of congressional seats assigned to each state.
Currently, the census counts every resident of a state, regardless of legal status. These counts are used to determine how many electoral votes and congressional seats a state has. Due to how the census works, while illegal immigrants can't vote in our elections, they can affect how much power the citizens of a given state have in influencing elections.
This is not a matter of debate, it is simply how our system works. If Texas gets 10 million new illegal immigrants, Texas will have more congressional seats allocated to it by the next decennial census. This affects not only the House of Representatives, but also the presidential elections by determining the electoral votes of a given state. Based on current Texas voting patterns, such a scenario would almost invariably benefit Republican candidates.
The same can be said of blue border states, like California.
The question I have is whether this method of counting is worth continuing given the impact illegal immigrants - who are not supposed to have any power to affect elections whatsoever - can have in this manner.
Would you support or oppose an effort to amend the constitution that mandates only lawful residents are counted in the census?
Every delay has consequences.
Republicans have often talked of "swaths of illegals being imported to vote Democrat", despite no national Democrat advocating for amnesty of recent arrivals.
But this is not the only way illegal immigrants can affect elections in the US. Aside from children born to them being able to vote (which is a separate issue), illegal immigrants affect the census, and the number of congressional seats assigned to each state.
Currently, the census counts every resident of a state, regardless of legal status. These counts are used to determine how many electoral votes and congressional seats a state has. Due to how the census works, while illegal immigrants can't vote in our elections, they can affect how much power the citizens of a given state have in influencing elections.
This is not a matter of debate, it is simply how our system works. If Texas gets 10 million new illegal immigrants, Texas will have more congressional seats allocated to it by the next decennial census. This affects not only the House of Representatives, but also the presidential elections by determining the electoral votes of a given state. Based on current Texas voting patterns, such a scenario would almost invariably benefit Republican candidates.
The same can be said of blue border states, like California.
The question I have is whether this method of counting is worth continuing given the impact illegal immigrants - who are not supposed to have any power to affect elections whatsoever - can have in this manner.
Would you support or oppose an effort to amend the constitution that mandates only lawful residents are counted in the census?
Would you support or oppose a constitutional amendment mandating that only lawful residents be counted in the US census?
Every delay has consequences.
Republicans have often talked of "swaths of illegals being imported to vote Democrat", despite no national Democrat advocating for amnesty of recent arrivals.
But this is not the only way illegal immigrants can affect elections in the US. Aside from children born to them being able to vote (which is a separate issue), illegal immigrants affect the census, and the number of congressional seats assigned to each state.
Currently, the census counts every resident of a state, regardless of legal status. These counts are used to determine how many electoral votes and congressional seats a state has. Due to how the census works, while illegal immigrants can't vote in our elections, they can affect how much power the citizens of a given state have in influencing elections.
This is not a matter of debate, it is simply how our system works. If Texas gets 10 million new illegal immigrants, Texas will have more congressional seats allocated to it by the next decennial census. This affects not only the House of Representatives, but also the presidential elections by determining the electoral votes of a given state. Based on current Texas voting patterns, such a scenario would almost invariably benefit Republican candidates.
The same can be said of blue border states, like California.
The question I have is whether this method of counting is worth continuing given the impact illegal immigrants - who are not supposed to have any power to affect elections whatsoever - can have in this manner.
Would you support or oppose an effort to amend the constitution that mandates only lawful residents are counted in the census?
