Could hordes of illegal aliens decide Maine’s gubernatorial election? Investor’s Business Daily seems to think so.
In a June 8 editorial, the conservative newspaper cites the state as one example of places where illegals may be sneaking onto the voter lists with the intent of casting ballots for terrorists or, even worse, liberals.
“Indeed,” says the newspaper, “signs of electoral shenanigans between Democrats and illegal immigrants have become increasingly commonplace. ... Underscoring the seriousness of the problem, a Scripps Howard study in 2000 found that 190 counties nationwide and the entire state of Maine had more voters than adults.”
The implication is those extra voters are border jumpers, here to steal our jobs and our elections through what the Daily calls “a creeping form of disenfranchisement of U.S. voters and an erosion of our national sovereignty.”
If that were true, it would certainly explain the incompetence of the current Legislature, not to mention the congressman from the 2nd District. But a closer look at the numbers doesn’t support the theory that foreign invaders are responsible for either rampant political ineptness or inflated voter rolls.
The Scripps Howard study found that in 1996, Maine had about 56,000 more voters than people of voting age. But almost all the extra names belonged not to fugitives from exotic lands such as Canada, Mexico, or North Korea, but to folks who had moved away or died. State officials admitted they hadn’t purged the lists properly and promised to correct the problem.
If, over the last few years, they haven’t exactly succeeded, they’ve at least done a somewhat better job. As of 2004, the secretary of state’s office, using statistics from the US Census Bureau and the state Department of Health and Human Services (motto: Due to Computer Problems, We Are Temporarily Unable to Access Our Motto), estimated there were about 1,019,000 adults of voting age in Maine. Updated Census figures put the number at closer to 1,027,000. The count on registered voters: about 1,028,000.
Close enough for government work?
If not, maybe we could reconcile the conflicting numbers by outsourcing the job to an accounting firm in India.
Walking away a winner?
Democratic US Representative Tom Allen of Maine’s 1st District has told political allies he intends to run for the US Senate in 2008 against incumbent Republican Susan Collins. Allen, who first won his seat in 1996, has also confided to friends that he’s fed up with the marginal role he’s playing in the GOP-dominated House of Representatives. Rather than endure another two years introducing bills that have no chance of passing, he’d prefer to challenge Collins, a move that could signal the end of his political career.
According to an informed source, Allen recognizes that he’d be an underdog in a race against Collins, particularly in the state’s 2nd District, where he’s widely (and accurately) perceived as a liberal wonk from Portland who knows little about the rural parts of Maine and cares less. But he still sees himself as the strongest challenger the Democrats could come up with. At a minimum, he’d keep Collins focused on her own re-election, preventing her from devoting time and money to helping other Republican candidates.
