In what jurisdictions do driver's licences show citizenship? As far as
I know the ONLY document I own showing my citizenship is my passport.
With a driver's license or SSN, it's auditable. Both documents require >presenting a birth certificate (or as I explained about Enumeration At
Birth, there is a combined application for birth certificate and SSN).
That makes it a rudimentary citizenship check for those born in the US.
I wouldn't even use a driver's license to prove residence. Instead, if a >person must prove his residence for a government program like a driver's >license, he gets put into a state database that the DL then draws from.
Then that database can be used for other programs requiring proof of >residency like voter registration.
No, nothing is perfect, but if the voter registrar performs the DL or
SSN check per Motor Voter, which California clearly does not do, then
nearly the entire problem BTR1701 identified is eliminated. With that
kind of checks, the handful of noncitizens registered to vote won't
affect any ekection outcome.
Wait. What? Passport is absolutely 100% proof of citizenship. In foreign >travel, the traveller is presenting an identity document proving
citizenship.
Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:28:49 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
In what jurisdictions do driver's licences show citizenship? As far as
I know the ONLY document I own showing my citizenship is my passport.
With a driver's license or SSN, it's auditable. Both documents require >>presenting a birth certificate (or as I explained about Enumeration At >>Birth, there is a combined application for birth certificate and SSN).
That makes it a rudimentary citizenship check for those born in the US.
So stupid question - how long have they been able to audit these?
Point of my question is that my mother was never an American though
she lived in the US for 6-7 years (first in her school days then when
my father was in grad school - which included infant me) and
defniitely had a California driver's licence. Similarly when we later
moved to Vancouver my father had a driver's licence for years and
didn't take Canadian citizenship till I was in 11th grade. (By which
time he had been living in Canada for 10+ years)
(In other words we're mostly talking 1955-70)
Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:28:49 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
Wait. What? Passport is absolutely 100% proof of citizenship. In foreign >>travel, the traveller is presenting an identity document proving >>citizenship.
I'm pretty sure I saw both my father's US and Canadian passports - and
that he got his first Canadian passport well before his
naturalization. (My father was raised in an area of Washingon state
much closer to Vancouver than Seattle - he went to college in Seattle
and grad studies in San Francisco (but that's only two years of his
life)
I'm pretty sure I saw both my father's US and Canadian passports - and
that he got his first Canadian passport well before his
naturalization. (My father was raised in an area of Washingon state
much closer to Vancouver than Seattle - he went to college in Seattle
and grad studies in San Francisco (but that's only two years of his
life)
If your father was able to travel internationally on a Canadian passport >issued before he was naturalized, then I'm sure the passport disclaimed >Canadian citizenship. I don't know the rules on what categories of >noncitizens may be issued passports.
But if a Canadian citizen presents a passport that doesn't disclaim
Canadian citizenship, then that document is proof of citizenship. It is
the passport's primary purpose.
You don't present a birth certificate to register to vote to prove your
age, but you absolutely do when applying for a driver's license. That's
why the driver's license is a rudimentary citizenship check because it's
got a copy of the birth certificate, so adequate for someone born in the >United States purporting to be a citizen for voter registration purposes. >It's inadequate to issue a passport.
On Tue, 9 Jun 2026 18:20:21 -0400, Rhino
<no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
For many years, Canadian federal elections were decided within 10
MINUTES of the polls closing in Ontario. If the Liberals or
Conservatives had enough votes by the time polls closed in Ontario, the
networks would declare the election and essentially stop coverage -
aside from analysis - because the outcome was inevitable. This REALLY
pissed off Western Canada so they finally staggered when the polls
closed and now maintain coverage until the last votes from BC have been
counted. I expect that's roughly 10 minutes after the polls close in BC
but Horny Goat would know much more about this than I do.
As Rhino says - I'm on the west coast whereas he's in Ontario 3 time
zones away.
He's mistaken on saying they delay announcing votes until the votes on
the west coast have been counted BUT staggering polling times was a
move made by Pierre Trudeau in is last term of office and in my view
is one of the few "win win" things he did since after the voting times
were changed, the polls closed on the west coast 1 1/2 hours after tey
closed on the east coast which meant abominations like 1980 didn't
take place which is where the national result was announced 10 minutes
after the polls closed on the west coast.
I was a party representative at our station and we were counting votes
when the guy from the other party left the counting room to make a
phone call then when one of our team told him that our party had 75+%
of the votes he said he didn't care as his party had already gotten a majority nationally.
Staggering voting times was a huge plus as when else can a politician
improve national unity while not spending a nickel in the budget?
The country of Colombia just held their elections and they counted 99.8% of >their 25+ million ballots in under three hours. Meanwhile, Los Angeles still >hasn't been able to deliver a final count in the mayoral election involving >only 875,000 ballots.
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