Only Citizens Vote – Protecting Our Elections - with Kerri Toloczko – [Ep. 231]

Linda J Hansen: Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101® Breakroom Economics Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host and the author of Prosperity 101® Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck, and the creator of the Breakroom Economics online course.

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As you know, we're in an election year. It is no secret that the election is approaching and it's something that's on everybody's mind almost every day. It's no secret also that there's great concern about the border invasion and how many illegals are coming here to vote. We know that many, many immigrants vote in our election. Legal immigrants are welcome to vote.

However, it is a problem when illegal immigrants vote in our elections. So what can we do about that? How can we prevent that? Here with me today is a returning guest and a good friend, Kerri Toloczko. Kerri also works with the Election Integrity Network, and she is the senior advisor to the Only Citizens Vote Coalition, and that's the focus of this episode is making sure that we assure that only citizens vote because that's the law.

So Kerri, thank you so much for joining with me again, and I look forward to what you're going to share with the listeners, and I know you have many resources, lots of information, and hope for our listeners.

Kerri Toloczko: Thanks so much, Linda. It's always a pleasure. And I am so grateful to you for covering this issue. The problem of non-citizen voting is something that is not entirely well-known through our communities yet. A lot of folks are not aware that it's happening. They're not aware about the level at which it is happening. They're not aware of the impact it can happen on their own vote. So really glad you're covering it.

Linda J Hansen: Well, it's my pleasure because like you said, so many people are unaware and even people who work the polls or who observe at polls are unaware. I mean, how can we tell if there's an illegal person voting when they should not be? And how can we be alerted to this?

Kerri Toloczko: Well, this is a problem. So, there is a fundamental problem that lies with federal law. So in 1993, that National Voter Registration Act, otherwise known as Motor Voter, was passed, and in it, it says that only American citizens can vote in American elections. Well, hello, of course, right?

In there is nothing about penalties if you are a non-citizen voting and most importantly, there's nothing in there allowing or demanding that states require documentary proof of citizenship. So there is a loophole there that a giant 18-wheeler can drive through on a regular basis. So let's scatter up to our DMVs.

A person who is either here lawfully as a non-citizen or illegally as a non-citizen goes to the DMV, and the bureaucrat gives them a form and says, here, fill this out while I'm getting your driver's license, your ID prepped. This is your voter registration form. Either they ask if the person's a citizen, they don't ask. They certainly do not care. The bureaucracy does not care. 

There's a little tiny box on there to check if you are a citizen. It is the only, the single only validation, and I use that word loosely, to ensure that somebody is a citizen when they're doing a voter registration. Now, imagine that you are a new immigrant to the United States, again, either a lawful immigrant or an illegal alien, and you have not become proficient in English yet, and some bureaucrat hands you a little form and says, “Here, fill this out and tick the box.”

Well, you fill it out, and you tick the box. The other thing that we know that is happening on a huge scale compared to what used to be is that Left-wing advocacy groups are now registering non-citizens at an absolutely alarming rate. And we know it's even happening at the border.

And here's the thing. If you get a driver's license and you go to vote. That's the thing that tells the clerk, or the poll observer, or the poll watcher, whatever it is that you can vote is your ID. My face matches my name, matches my voter roll, ergo, I can vote. There's nothing on there that says you're a citizen.

Real ID itself does not in any way, shape or form validate citizenship, has nothing to do with citizenship. So at the clerk local level, there's almost nothing we can do there. There are some things that Congress must do to close out loopholes, and there are things that state legislators can do and local election officials can do to cross-check voter rolls. But even that's difficult without having that overt permission in federal law.

Linda J Hansen: Well, and could you address the SAVE Act? We've heard a lot recently about the SAVE Act and would this close this loophole? I mean, some people who are opposed to it say we don't need it because it's already federal law that immigrants do or illegal immigrants do not vote. So why do we 

Kerri Toloczko: It is, and honestly, I'm glad you brought it up, Linda, because that is one of the most ridiculous and specious arguments I've ever heard in my life. Yes, it is illegal for non-citizens to vote in a U. S. election. It is also illegal for them to come into our country without permission.

It is illegal to steal a car, to jaywalk, to hit somebody over the head with a hammer. All those things are illegal. Everything, you know, and they do it anyway. So this notion that “Oh, the law says you can't, is ridiculous.” And the Left who proffers that fib also knows that there's no teeth there, that there's no, you know, penalties for people who register non-citizens.

So what the SAVE Act is, so the SAVE Act is a federal bill. It passed out of the House. It went to the Senate where they did the usual absolutely nothing with it. And now it is possibly coming back to the House as an add-on to the September spending bill. 

The two main things that the SAVE Act does, it does, as to your point, Linda, it closes a loophole. Number one, it demands, henceforth—so, any of your listeners or watchers don't have to worry about themselves—but henceforth, when you register to vote, you have to have documentary proof of citizenship to do so. 

And number two, it gives unfettered access to two federal databases to state officials so that they can cross check. One database is at DHS. The other one is at social security. They're not perfect, but they're way better than nothing. And states are not really able to get into those databases the way they should. So, the SAVE Act does that. 

And then I guess there's a third thing of the two I just mentioned. The third thing is right now, well, let me backtrack a little bit. A non-citizen, in our view, who votes is very unlikely to realize that they can't. They are being told they're being handed a form by a bureaucrat, so it must be okay. They're being handed a form by a Left-wing activist who tells them, “Oh, you can vote, you live here, now you're good,” right? 

So they believe them and a lot of them come from countries with very corrupt election systems, so for them, this isn't weird. When they break this federal law, and they vote, they are subject to jail, fines, and immediate deportation. This includes legal non-citizen residents who are trying to naturalize. 

The second thing on the State Department list that the State Department checks when you've applied for citizenship is, have you voted? If you have voted, you are immediately taken out of the queue. You're not going to get your citizenship. Maybe you were here 40 years. They don't care. You're out of the queue, and you could be deported again, even if you've been here for 30 or 40 years. 

So, the non-citizens are paying the price of voting unlawfully. And again, we really do believe a lot of it is unwittingly as well. But nobody else pays the price. So in the SAVE Act, people who are suborning the registration of non-citizens, knowing they're exploiting them or putting them in harm's way, are also penalized. 

So, those three things are hugely important, and I think would really change the game a lot.

Linda J Hansen: Well, I think so, too. What would you say to people who are concerned about the lists and the privacy for the voters and the individuals, because, you know, we had like the Patriot Act, which ended up not being as great as people thought, because it ended up providing so much surveillance on American citizens, and we've ended up into this big state environment that we have. 

And so what would you say to people who are concerned about that when we're looking at how to make sure we have a clean, fair, honest election with clean voter rolls that really include only those who are legally able to cast a ballot?

Kerri Toloczko: Right. Really good question. So. On the DHS side, the Department of Homeland Security keeps a list of people who are in the country unlawfully. So, I'm sorry, you're here unlawfully, right? So that's point A. The Social Security Administration's list is more tailored to people who are here lawfully and have received a Social Security card. But please note that illegal immigrants are also getting social security cards. 

So, here's kind of the constitutional hat argument. If you are in our country unlawfully, then I'm sorry. The protections do not apply to you, and you should not expect them to either. For the people who are in the country lawfully, you know, we can check against those again on the social security rolls.

The checks that go between the Wisconsin voter rolls, let's say the local voter rolls, the Social Security database, against the Social Security or DHS database, this is not a public activity. This isn't an activity that happens between either the secretary of a state or it happens between the local officials in the state. And they all send a list of names. They'll cross-check them against their voter rolls. They'll see if people are listed as non-citizens, and then they'll send out notifications. 

So again, it's all an internal government process to protect citizen voters. And again, also people who are voting unlawfully who could get into all kinds of trouble and don't have any idea.

Linda J Hansen: Well, that's a really good point. But here we're saying we're trusting the government for this, obviously—

Kerri Toloczko: Yeah, I know.

Linda J Hansen: —which is like, you know, that it could be a problem, but therein lies the people, the power of the people, we, the people, who need to make a difference, and that's what your coalition is all about.

So if we look at the Only Citizens Vote Coalition, which listeners, the website is OnlyCitizensVoteCoalition.com, there are so many resources on there for our listeners who care about these elections, who care about this issue, where they have resources so they can help to make an impact. 

I think it helps people understand who can vote and who cannot, how to even be a voice to bring forth this type of policies so that the local officials and the local poll workers and observers even understand. And so we can start to close up these loopholes at the local level as well. 

We don't always have to wait for the SAVE Act. There's a lot we can do even before that because we're citizens and it's up to us, we, the people, to take back our government and to make sure that we are holding our elected officials accountable. One of the ways we do that is to be the eyes and ears and make sure that we are helping citizens only to be the voters.

Kerri Toloczko: Absolutely. And you know, and just to make a point, at OnlyCitizensVoteCoalition.com, we have all kinds of resources. And you mentioned one of the arguments we get, which is, you know, it's against the law anyway, so don't worry about it. So, we all have laws. We can let all the policemen and the attorneys general go home now, the prosecutors, because we're all good. 

But the other thing is the numbers game. So, we have on our website site a lot of fact sheets and informational sheets about numbers. And I do want to address that, Linda, because it's something I hear all the time from the Left-wing press when I'm doing interviews, “Well, you know,” they're, again, dripping with moral relativism, “Oh, it's only a couple of people.”

Well, first of all, it's not, but even if it is like, “I'm sorry, then that even that's wrong.” But in 2008, we had a presidential election. And in 2014, a group of nerdy economists, statisticians actually, did a study of non-citizen voting in the U.S. They're not political at all, not even remotely. They're green eyeshade people.

And they found that in 2008, 6.4% of non-citizens and, again, two classifications—the people here legally who are non-citizen and the illegal immigrants—of 6.4% of them voted. If that were to happen today at the same rate, and let us remember that in 2008, we did not have the Left-wing voter registration groups anywhere near like what we have now.

We did not have a presidential executive order issued by President Biden that says if someone comes in contact with the U.S. government, you must give them a voter registration form. And that includes a towel, and a lunch, and taking care of you at the border. Let's just say what approaching the federal government means. 

So, none of that was really going on in 2008. So even if only 6.4% voted, of non-citizens voted in 2024. That's over 1.5 million votes. You put those votes Racine, Wisconsin; Maricopa County; Fulton County, Philadelphia; you put those votes in strategic places, and you absolutely have the ability to shift a state election and a federal election. 

So, I mean, that is a horrifying reality. So to that point and making sure that everybody is aware of this problem and as you always point out, Linda, what we as citizens can do to help, we have next week, the 16th to the 20th of September, we've designated as National Only Citizens Vote Week and on our website, there are packets there.

For just citizen activists, regular people listening to us today, can go on there and find the Citizen Toolkit. There's sample letters to the editor. There's how to get on a radio show. There's sample tweets. There's cute little memes. There's cute little graphics that people can use on their social media.

So, we try to, there's bumper stickers. You can get bumper stickers and there's artwork for mugs and t-shirts. There's flags, flag wavy, flag cards, you know, yard signs, things like that. We thought everything we could think of that a citizen would need either as a piece of artwork or just as a template letter, which you can cut and paste right from the internet, we're providing that to people because it's nice that you and I are talking about it. 

And it's really nice that people viewing this podcast hear about it, but we need people to get out there and really talk about this. And so, that's why we've created this Citizen Toolkit and National Only Citizens Vote Week.

Linda J Hansen: Well, it's such a good idea. And so, listeners, I invite you to go to the website, OnlyCitizensVoteCoalition.com. There you will find the toolkit, but if you're still a little nervous, there's also a short video where Kerri kind of explains everything. She walks through what the resources are. She helps you understand what you can do, and it doesn't seem so scary then.

And so, you know, and I tell people, you don't have to do everything. You might look at that website and think, “Oh, that's too overwhelming. I can't do that.” And, you know, and then you end up doing nothing. You know, and so, but pick one thing.

Kerri Toloczko: That’s right.

Linda J Hansen: Maybe you can post one thing on social media. Maybe you can print out one thing and give to a neighbor. Maybe you can take it to your local elected official or your city clerk or your radio station, newspaper, whatever it is that you look at that and say, “I could do this.” 

And if everybody did one thing instead of most people doing nothing, we could turn this around. And so, you know, don't rely on everybody else to do it. Don't listen to this podcast and think, “Well, somebody else is going to do that. I don't have time.” You know, well, you don't have time for your country to just fall apart. 

I mean, our country is in peril right now. We are at a tipping point where we are looking at the effects of Marxism and communism and this oligarchy that we have and, you know, complete control and the whole globalist cabal, you know, we're looking at this, and we have to stop it. It's up to us, we, the people. 

And so if you want an America that abides by the constitution, that has, you know, the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness available to all, if you want to be able to raise your family the way you see fit or live where you want to live or work where you want to work, you need to be involved.

So don't sit back this election. Please go to OnlyCitizensVoteCoalition.com and make sure you look at this toolkit. You can also go to Who'sCounting.us, which is the Election Integrity Network website, where you can find even more information about protecting the integrity of our elections.

So you want to do that. I have other episodes I've done with Kerri, where you could look in my podcast library and see. We've done ones on vulnerable voters. We have done ones on rank choice voting. There's a couple in there with Kerri and then also Mike Volante understanding of the perils of rank-choice voting and how disastrous it can be to our election integrity.

And so, you know, there's so many resources that you can have where you can learn how to make a difference and protect your vote and the future of America. But next week, especially this special week in September, we want to focus on making sure people are aware of the problem of illegals voting.

And again, we want to make sure we're not saying that we don't want any immigrants voting. We want legal immigrants to be part of the legal process and become citizens, and we welcome them, and we want them to vote. Many of them can see better than some native-born Americans what really needs to happen in America to keep America strong.

So we want their voice, but we want them to come legally, and we want to protect our election process. So it is really from the citizens. It's we, the people, making the difference.

Kerri Toloczko: Absolutely. And you know, there is no everybody else. To your point, there is no everybody else. We are everybody else. And you know, just doing the one thing, in the next week, we've laid it out in five different themes because we wanted to cover all the different aspects of this and give people different things.

So, Monday is shine the light day. We have graphics for shining the light, just so that people understand, bringing the argument or bringing the conversation into the PublicSquare. And then Tuesday is really fun because it's Constitution and Citizenship Day on September 17th. Some people think it's just Constitution day, but it's not. It's called Constitution and Citizenship Day. So we celebrate citizenship that day. 

Wednesday, we look at the SAFE Act. Thursday, we talk about what state legislators and state election officials can do, including checking against your DMV records, including checking against your jury cards that come back that say, “Hello, I'd love to serve, but I'm not a citizen, so I can't.” And then, Friday, we really take on the idea of protecting non-citizens from themselves by making sure that they don't vote. 

And you know, we've talked about this before, Linda. Everything happens at the ballot box. And there are a lot of people watching now, I'm sure, who are thinking, “Well, I'm kind of the pro-life person. That's my thing. I'm a gun person. That's my thing. I don't like taxes and regulation. That's my thing.”

All of that happens at the ballot box, good or bad. That's where it happens. And unless we protect our votes, and I would we have a duty to protect everybody else's as well, you know, and we've provided that for folks.

So to your point, the one thing, if you copy and paste one letter to the editor, and again, you can copy and paste it as is, you can personalize it, we don't mind, you can do whatever you want with it. Just getting that word out there, I think is critically important.

And, you know, in your state, you have a ballot box problem. A lot of states have a ballot box problem. And we do not want ballot harvesters To be able to collect ballots from a large swath of non-citizens and just dump them in a ballot box. That's a terrifying thought. So anything we can do to prevent that, I think is really helpful. And it's an eyes on situation. You have to be eyes on.

Linda J Hansen: It definitely is. And you know that this podcast really focuses on, you know, all issues, but with a special focus on how employers can share information about these issues with employees. Like helping them understand why this is important to their job, to their family, to the company in which they work.

And so what would you say to employers who want to be able to share some of this with their employees without seeming too, you know, political because employers are worried about that? And so they want to make sure they—

Kerri Toloczko: I think that is a lovely idea and a wonderful suggestion. I would guess most small business owners do have non-citizens that work for them.

Let me just say it this way, very frankly. If you explain to them that as non-citizens, they absolutely are breaking a federal law that could come back and bite them by voting. You are doing them a tremendous service because, again, people just don't realize. So I think that would be a wonderful conversation to have with employees.

And you're doing it from a protective stance. You're not yelling at anybody. You're saying, “I just want you all to understand that if you vote in a federal election and you are not a citizen, you can be immediately deported.” There's a case now in North Carolina. They're going to be fining and jailing 15 people from 19 countries just for registering to vote, which is also a felony. 

So, first felony is registering. Second felony is actually voting. So I think that would be a tremendous service. On our website, we have a place where there's a little flyer. Anyone can see it very easily under the toolkit and it's a one-page flyer that employers could print off and put in their breakroom. There's one in English and one in Spanish. It's very simple. 

And it says, “If you're not a citizen of the United States, you cannot vote in a U.S. election.” That's all it says on the whole pamphlet and, you know, protecting these folks, I get really irritated because Democrats are so against all of these provisions and making sure non-citizens vote.

They don't pay the price. They don't pay the price. The non-citizens pay the price. And so therefore, anything that we can do in any form, including a work environment to protect those folks, I think that's a terrific idea.

Linda J Hansen: Well, employers, I encourage you to do that. Go to the OnlyCitizensVoteCoalition.com website. Look at the toolkit. You can download and print that one pager, put it in your breakroom, but please help them know the facts about what is legal for them in terms of voting. 

And while you're at it, make sure you encourage your employees to get out to vote. Remember, we don't tell them who to vote for, but we provide information to them.

And so, you know, I have information with prosperity101. com, my online course, the free ebook; I have posters there that you can put up, just helping people understand some basic things to think about before they decide on who they want to vote for, and how those issues affect their jobs. 

So, you know, we're really about just trying to educate people so they can make an informed choice, and they can make a choice that's good for them and their families and their communities and the nation. And a strong America makes for a stronger world. So that's, you know, really what we're trying to do.

Kerri Toloczko: Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, it's so important to vote. And I say all the time, you've heard me say it before, Linda, it's not just a right, it's a duty. It really is. And the protection part of that I see as a duty as well.

And so we're always grateful for people who do so. And, you know, we get attacked all the time. You know, if we don't have a negative article about us, Cleta and I, during a week, we wonder what we've done wrong.

Linda J Hansen: Well, it's true. You know, there so listeners, too, you'll be hearing things like, “Oh, these are just people that want to suppress the vote.” No, no, no. We want to encourage every legal voter to vote.

Kerri Toloczko: Right. The only vote expressed is the vote of someone who cannot vote legally, and it protects them to make sure that they know that they can't.

Linda J Hansen: Right. And it protects the legal voters, too, from having their votes canceled out. 

Kerri Toloczko: Exactly. Yes, that's exactly right. So, let's think about that one. So, every time a non-citizen votes, it's canceling out a citizen's vote. I mean, that's just math, kindergarten math, and that's a really frightening thing. 

And, you know, I know in our national debate, not to digress too much, but over in the national debate over the last couple of months, the concern about the open borders is huge.

The concern about the lack of concern about the open borders is huge. The White House has already issued a formal statement saying it will not pass, that President Biden would not pass the SAVE Act if it ends on his desk. So, he will not sign a bill that's already law and gives teeth to the law. Why? 

So, you know, that's something we, and I'm putting it in the context of what we're reading even this week in the newspaper.

Linda J Hansen: Correct.

Kerri Toloczko: And that's really frightening.

Linda J Hansen: Yeah. And that's where we, the people, come in again. Please make sure you let your elected officials know that this issue is important to you. And there's resources on the website that can help you do that. So, Kerri, thank you so much. I look forward to having you back again.

I thank you for your tireless efforts to make sure we have election integrity and every person's vote matters, especially when they're cast legally. So, and we protected those who are misled into casting illegal votes. So we just hope and pray for our country that it would be secure, transparent, honest elections, and may God bless America.

Kerri Toloczko: Amen. 

Linda J Hansen: Amen.

Kerri Toloczko: Thank you so much, Linda. 

Linda J Hansen: Thank you.

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