Motherhood, Apple Pie, and Voter ID

America is defined by core principles. Many appear in the Bill of Rights – free speech and worship, freedom to “keep and bear arms,” due process, and equal protection. But they all start with – and are assured by – the sanctity of our vote.

Without an honest vote, legal protections guaranteeing that those who vote are legally entitled to vote – especially with 11.4 unauthorized residents, 12.9 legal permanent residents, millions more foreign-born visa holders, asylum seekers, and refugees – all rights vanish. Tight elections only speak to the urgency of Voter ID.

Speaking bluntly, Democrat politicians from California to Maine have tried legislatively to give the vote to illegal aliens, creating an illegal, power-retaining “entitlement caucus.” Democrat non-profits admit registering illegal aliens, and some leaders – like Maine’s Secretary of State – admit they are on voter rolls.

From California to Maine, requiring credible identification to vote is just common sense, as it protects the integrity of results and deters fraud. Voter ID is, in a phrase, “as American as motherhood and apple pie,” used by 36 states and 50 foreign countries. Why? It works. It deters fraud.  

Wrote Thomas Jefferson: “The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution…so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.

Jefferson – with Adams, Madison, Monroe, and Washington – would be shocked we are not controlling government’s growth, entitlements, and now illegal voters.

Incredibly, even civil rights leaders like John Lewis, whose name is invoked for watering down the vote, would say – was quoted saying – “the vote is sacred.”

So, why do modern, “progressive,” operationally Marxist Democrats mock those seeking voter integrity, try to undermine them with confusing referendum language, then advertise that integrity hurts voters, and illegal aliens should vote? Why do they pour big money into fighting those who want to protect votes with Voter ID?

Why – when we need a photo ID to buy beer and wine, open a bank account, collect food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, Social Security, rent or buy a car? House, or hotel room, get on an airplane, get married, buy a gun, adopt a pet, secure a hunting or fishing license, buy a cell phone, pick up prescriptions, get a permit to protest, donate blood, or buy cigarettes, collect unemployment benefits, would we not ALSO require an ID for something as sacred as the act of voting?

The obvious answer is: We should. Each illegal vote cancels a legal one, cancels yours with someone who cannot speak English, and undermines trust in the outcome.

So, what is the motivation for multi-million-dollar Democrat campaigns to misinform, confuse, and enable illegal voting – from California to Maine in 2026? Why push illegality, or in Jefferson’s words, “government” working to “legalize” it?

Answer: Power. Those fighting Voter ID referendums are clutching for power, a last gasp as the majority says, “Enough illegality,” instills trust again – in elections.

How important is this? Vital. It is more important than any other right, because on that “sacred” vote all our rights now depend. Even at the beginning of our Republic, the Founders: This is everything, the sacred vote.

Wrote John Adams, our second president: “We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our Liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good.”

In California, pressure for Voter ID in 2026 is growing. We should be cheering, as voter integrity could restore faith in their elections. In Maine, which votes on Voter ID come November, the question was twisted into an ugly mess by Maine’s patently corrupt Secretary of State – but should still produce a “yes” vote.

Taken as a whole, during our nation’s 250 years, we have fought hard for every right we enjoy. We should now value and protect the one that makes all the others possible – voter integrity, which requires a “yes” vote everywhere for Voter ID.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!