Most Americans Surprised to Learn Proof of Citizenship Not Required in Some States: Panel

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]a federal judge temporarily allowing President Trump's executive order on mail-in ballots. It mandates that such ballots can only be be delivered to voters who have applied for one with federal oversight. Joining me now to discuss is David Carluchi, former New York State Senator and founder of Carluchi Consulting and David Pollock, attorney and host of David Pollock Prime Time on O. Great to have you guys both with us. So, here's uh the president describing the intent of his executive order on these mail and ballots. Watch.

[00:00:31]>> Like to have voter ID. Would like to have proof of citizenship, and that'll be another subject for another time.

[00:00:37]We're working on that. You would think it would be easy. It's a 98% issue for Republicans. It's 86%.

[00:00:44]I think just came out, a poll, and it's 86% with Republicans and Democrats, not leaders, because the leaders of the Democrats cheat. And the only people that don't want to do voter ID are people that cheat.

[00:00:56]>> And remember, it's about voter integrity. We want to have honest voting in our country because if you don't have honest voting, you can't have really a nation if you want to know the truth.

[00:01:09]>> David Carluchi, it sounds like the president was talking about the Save Act there, Save America Act. When it comes to this order, however, it basically says uh that we're not going to mail a ballot to everybody in the town only if you have uh you know opted in to have a mail-in ballot. Some would argue this is common sense and that ultimately by not doing so and and doing it this way, we're making a mocker mock mockery of our democracy. What do you say to that, David?

[00:01:39]>> Well, first, this isn't a done deal, right? this still has to go through the legal process, but I don't think so.

[00:01:46]Look, even Donald Trump voted via mail most recently and and that was surprising because he was talking about how he doesn't like mailin in voting um but he happened to do it and so I I think it's a disconnect. Uh there's a lot of organization or a lot of states that have been using the mail-in ballot process and that's worked perfectly fine. So, we haven't been able to find this fraud that uh the president is talking about. And if that exists, I would love to see it because I agree. I don't want any fraud in our election system. And I also don't want to suppress any voters. Um we need to make sure that everyone that has a voice that has the right to vote does exercise that right. Um and that shouldn't be a difficult process. Um so I think the focus if we're talking about voter integrity, it should be on cyber security. It should be on the integrity of the voting process to make sure that every vote is counted and all the right votes are counted.

[00:02:44]It does sound though to your point David Carluchcci there is an investigation into the integrity of the um cyber security surrounding our election. So it'll be interesting to see what those results might yield. David Pollock, uh, voters as a whole seem to be very supportive of election security and integrity, uh, particularly when it comes to voter ID. Uh, why is it that some folks are opposed to, uh, instituting voter ID? It just seems like common sense.

[00:03:14]>> Well, I don't know why anybody would be opposed to to voter ID. As a matter of fact, I think what is it 80 plus percent of Americans, Democrat, Republican, everybody is in favor of voter ID and and more than that um evidentiary proof that you are US citizen before you're eligible to vote. I mean that's what the Save America Act covers. Um the Save Act save the Save Act before that was just proof that you're a citizen. Save America Act is citizen plus ID. But people are surprised to learn that they're not required to prove they're a citizen to register to vote in a lot of states. People like, "What do you mean that's not the law?" So, it's something that's so obvious that people assume is the law isn't the law. And I don't understand how anybody would be opposed to ensuring that citizens are voting and the people who show up to vote are who they say they are. And it's the same thing with this executive order on mail and ballots. It's why are we sending ballots in some states to people who didn't request them just because they're registered to vote. We should only be sending mail and ballots to people who request them because the the the likelihood that that ballot's going to get to somebody and the wrong person is going to vote it um goes up when you start to just mail ballots to people that didn't request them. And so that's the way it's always been this this new way of let's just mail everybody ballots and hope for the best. It's not a secure election. And I think everybody in America, regardless of your party, wants to ensure that the results of the election are accurate. And anybody who is opposed to ensuring that elections are accurate and the elections have integrity, they have an ulterior motive.

[00:04:47]I think >> David Carluchi, I think that's really the the >> the crux of the argument is uh you know, what happens to those ballots that are mailed to people that are not on the registered uh voter roles? And um does it make our election system more susceptible to fraud?

[00:05:09]>> Well, look, no one can point and say that that is happening. This is all speculative. No one has shown that there's been voter fraud because someone that was on the voter roles got mailed a ballot even though they didn't apply for it. Look, this is a you know, it's a solution or it's a problem in search of a solution or a solution in search of the problem. This is something that's not happening and that's the issue. This idea that everyone is in favor of voter ID. Yes, voter ID is common. That's what's happening. But that is not what's in the Save America Act. So, we're conflating the two. And that's not right to say that 86% are in favor of the Save Act when it's voter ID. The difference is proving that you're a citizen. And we act like that's all easy. But for many Americans, particularly Americans that were born in this country, uh don't have easy access to prove that they're a citizen. And so that is where this problem occurs. But the all on top of all of this is that this is all just a talk. And I'm I'm afraid that it's a voter suppression tactic because we haven't been able to point to that voter fraud. And that is the issue. We keep hearing this idea that people are are even coming to this country illegally to vote in elections. We haven't found any proof of that. And so that is the problem. Whereas we're adding on all of these requirements, undoing if the Save America Act were to pass, that would be a major financial hardship and just regulatory hardship to election uh organizations or election um boards across this country. There's no money attached and they have to redo their process. People that are legally registered to vote would then have to re-register. That includes all three of us that are on this program tonight. And maybe we don't carry around our birth certificate or have access to it. That's the problem. We don't need less people voting. We need more eligible people showing up to vote.

[00:07:04]>> David Pollock, I see you want to weigh in.

[00:07:06]>> You know, if there Well, this is we hear this argument all the time. It disenfranchises bill. Makes it harder for people to vote to vote. People can't find their birth certificates. women get married and they change their names and then they can't prove that they are who they say they are without going through all these unnecessary steps. I can address these arguments one by one.

[00:07:23]There have been prosecutions for election fraud. There just hasn't been enough evidence according to what you hear on the left to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But to say there has been no prosecutions and no convictions for election fraud, that's just not accurate. There just it hasn't been proven that the 2020 election was was quote unquote stolen. So, but let's put that aside for a second and talk about this idea that it would be difficult for people.

[00:07:48]>> It doesn't matter. The you can't just draw a conclusion that it doesn't happen when clearly it does. Maybe it doesn't happen at the scale that you think the response requires, but it is still happening. So, you can't >> you CAN'T IT THERE'S PROSECUTIONS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. ANYBODY RIGHT NOW watching can look it up and they will find prosecutions all OVER THE COUNTRY.

[00:08:06]THERE'S there's fraud prosecutions for election fraud. I can send you examples.

[00:08:10]For what?

[00:08:10]>> Regardless of that, >> non-citizens, >> the barrier >> nonitizens voting, >> the barrier that >> Let me ask you this.

[00:08:17]>> Why? But yes, actually there have been prosecutions. There's been instances of hundreds of non-citizens voting in states even like Alabama. Now, it's not a huge number, but if one non-citizen votes and an election is decided by one vote, now a non-citizen just affected the outcome of an election because the election integrity efforts weren't there. But let's talk about the idea. Do you think there will be a problem?

[00:08:40]>> Look, no, I'll let you finish your point, please.

[00:08:43]>> Yeah.

[00:08:45]>> Yeah. On on the proving who you are and it be Well, >> there there might be a slight delay.

[00:08:54]What I'm trying to say is when you have to prove who you are and people >> Yeah. When you have a bar, when people are saying that there's this barrier for people to register to vote, I would have to reregister to vote. It takes 10 seconds. It is a small inconvenience to me to reregister to vote if I know that the election is safe and secure. And we're talking about a a minuscule percentage of 1% of the people that would have a challenging time >> proving who they are. The majority, 99.999% of the people would have no issue whatsoever. So why would we forego election integrity? Because we're worried that a fractional population might not be able to prove who they are.

[00:09:32]>> Do the research. It's not false. They read the numbers.

[00:09:35]>> Yeah. No, there's plenty of data. First, Heritage Foundation has shown they've done extensive research and have found very little voter fraud, especially for non-citizens voting. I mean, this is obscure and and outrageous that we would say that, but too much voter problem. You're acting like it's easy. It's easy for you. Maybe it's easy for me to get these documents.

[00:09:56]I worked as a town clerk for many years helping people process those documents and get them. And there's many stories more than than you would you would think or you have mentioned and that's been documented where there's going to be people that are disenfranchised in getting those documents. Now election integrity that should be the focus and I agree with that. But let's not get caught up in this idea of oh you need to now prove you're a citizen when that has not been the problem. If you attach funding to this bill, if you attach a way that we can do this in an appropriate way that doesn't disenfranchise millions of people, which I actually believe is true and that's been documented, then we can have that conversation. But this is a problem in search of a solution and that is the issue or this is a solution in search of a problem because we have not find that that um that type of fraud. It just doesn't exist. It's a red herring and that's why this is just out outlandish and and not necessary >> when you need respectfully if you need two forms of ID to shovel snow in New York. Why is it offensive to Democrats to require you to prove who you are to register to vote? It is such a it is such an important duty of an American citizen to vote.

[00:11:05]>> Yes.

[00:11:06]>> But but even registering to vote, proving you're a citizen that most Americans think that's >> you don't think it is. I think that's the argument being made by people who rely on the fraud to get elected citizenship >> you but again you're conflicting things and that's what's not fair about this you're talking about ID yes that's different than proving citizenship and that's what we have to remember and yes we have a problem with voter participation of eligible voters citizens just not participating and now you want to make it harder we should make it easier to vote because it is our opportunity we all belong to this Let's talk let's talk about the state of California with by the way there's uh ballot harvesting uh legal ballot harvesting which if you're mailing votes to a lot of people uh it's one of those things that might be hard to track but very susceptible to fraud. I would think that anybody would want to uh take the proper steps to limit that possibility.

[00:12:01]But let's talk about the elections there. The California gubanatorial primary happening soon. Uh the president, President Trump recently endorsing Steve Hilton who's tailing behind uh the Democrat front runner Javier Basera, former HHS secretary. Uh David Carluchi, there there are multiple Democratic candidates in this race for governor. Is support coalescing behind Basera because for a long time uh it didn't seem to be.

[00:12:29]>> Well, polling is showing that. And look, California has an open primary system and it's something where you have this opportunity where where party uh affiliation is not important in this process and at least in this first round in the primary and I think that's a good thing. Um I think that's a way that we can get uh Republicans and Democrats to both be participating and make sure that every voter has an opportunity. whereas in a closed primary it it's really I think the the more extreme ends of the party whether it's Republican or Democrat are are ruling the day. So I think that's a good thing. Um but I think yes Brera is the candidate that uh Democrats particularly are rallying behind but Californians are and I think once they make it through this runoff process that Brera is looking like he'll be the candidate that will be uh the next governor.

[00:13:21]>> David Pollock you're based out there. Uh tell us what the vibe is. What are you feeling? Early voting already underway uh with Republicans making a higher share of early voters uh when it's usually the other way around. Is this perhaps an example of the Trump endorsement effect at work? And what might we see? We have the Los Angeles mayoral race with Spencer Pratt gaining some traction and is there any chance for um a Republican in the gubernatorial with that runoff system that might take away from Democratic votes where you might have a dark horse uh Republican candidate.

[00:13:57]>> Yeah. Well, I think we should just mail all the Republican voters a ballot to make sure that they have no barriers to showing up to vote. Um, but no, turnout is high and it because Californians in general are upset. Not just Republicans in California, but everybody in California. The state is becoming increasingly more expensive. The homelessness problem, the fraud. I mean, California probably has some of the worst fraud in the country. Speaking of this era, I mean, look at his inner circle. Look at the prosecutions and investigations there. Plus, look at his own record. I mean, this is the Democrat's answer for a state that has billions of dollars in in potential fraud is to put somebody else that has surrounds himself with people who get in trouble for the same thing. So, at the end of the day, um I think people in California are ready to elect somebody, and I don't think Ber has the answer, who is going to lead this state in a direction that makes it representative of being the sixth largest economy in the world. It's a beautiful state with beautiful people and it's just so much to offer yet the roads are falling apart, the homelessness, the drugs, the crime. I mean, it's just managed so poorly. And I think all Californians are ready for a change. And that's why I think you're seeing um such record turnout. And I do believe I think it's going to be a Bianca or Hilton will be against maybe Bera. Um and I I I think uh the it might surprise you on election day what the voters decide. Spencer Pratt is a great example of how um even Democrats are crossing the aisle to change things in California.