Canadians will go to the polls on May 2nd to elect a Prime Minister. The election has gained almost no attention in the U.S. but one candidate suddenly has a very American problem.
As reported in the Toronto Sun, Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal Party candidate for Prime Minister stated in a 2004 interview with a U.K. journalist:
“I am an American Democrat. I will vote for Kerry in November.”
Ignatieff, a professor at Harvard University, was living in Cambridge, MA at the time. He had been away from Canada for over 30 years, having arrived at Harvard as a graduate student in 1969. In the 70s he moved to the UK, but eventually found his way back to Cambridge and settled in as an academic. He became so settled that it was a shock to many in Canada when returned in 2005 and announced his intention to run for Parliament. Many questioned if he was a U.S. citizen. Feeling the pressure, Ignatieff told the Toronto Star, ”
“I’ve never been a citizen of any other country. Nor was I a green card holder in the United States.”
If that is true, then voting in the U.S. was illegal. And a professor at the Kennedy School of Government would have known that.
A conviction for illegal voting in Massachusetts carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. For each time that he voted.
But proving if he did or did not vote may be an impossibility . The only conclusive proof would be the hard copy poll books that are used to check in voters on election day – if he signed in, he voted. But, the Cambridge Election Commission says that they no longer have the hard copy material from 2004. And while their electronic database includes voter history, they admit that a voter who has been purged from the rolls may not show up anywhere in the file. Assuming Ignatieff didn’t vote in Cambridge after being elected to Parliament in 2006, he would have been purged.
So all we have is Ignatieff’s word that he voted in a U.S. election. And he may or may not be a citizen.
When asked for comment, Ignatieff’s spokesman basically thumbed his nose at U.S. election law:
“Mr. Ignatieff has simply confirmed what we already know — that he is a progressive, compassionate liberal. Always has been, always will be.”
But that doesn’t answer the question: Is he an American, or did he vote illegally? If he’s an American, he should stop denying it and be proud to have become a citizen of this great country. If it’s the latter, he should be prosecuted for making a mockery of our democracy.
So far, there has been no word from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office about investigating Ignatieff’s voter files.
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