Today's Seattle Times reports on Andrei Locklear, currently of Issaquah, who is trying to persuade federal agencies that he's a U.S. citizen, even though his life story sounds highly implausible
He has no school, dental or medical records — no evidence of a childhood spent anywhere.We learn at the end of the article that "Since he's been in Washington, Locklear has registered to vote". He not only registered to vote, he did vote last November.It doesn't help, either, that he speaks with a thick Russian accent — the result, he says, of being raised among Russian immigrants in a Brooklyn neighborhood, and being home-schooled in Russian by his mother.
One federal judge upheld his claim of citizenship, but the Social Security Administration, State Department and other agencies remain unconvinced.
Here's a prediction: If a King County resident were to challenge Locklear's voter registration, I would bet that Dean Logan and the canvassing board would rule that him eligible to vote. Anybody want to test that hypothesis?
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 24, 2005 10:07 AM | Email This"I have notified them twice and I STILL get two ballots every election. What does it take with these people?"
Sure seems like nothing much has changed...
BTW, the duplicate voter was in zip 98015 (PO Boxes only) so I am sure you can find him if you want without a lot of hassle -- there are only a few thousand boxes there. Both ballots came to the same box. I did not get his name as AI did not want to intrude...
"I have notified them twice and I STILL get two ballots every election. What does it take with these people?"
Sure seems like nothing much has changed...
BTW, the duplicate voter was in zip 98015 (PO Boxes only) so I am sure you can find him if you want without a lot of hassle -- there are only a few thousand boxes there. Both ballots came to the same box. I did not get his name as I did not want to intrude...
"I have notified them twice and I STILL get two ballots every election. What does it take with these people?"
Sure seems like nothing much has changed...
BTW, the duplicate voter was in zip 98015 (PO Boxes only) so I am sure you can find him if you want without a lot of hassle -- there are only a few thousand boxes there. Both ballots came to the same box. I did not get his name as I did not want to intrude...
The PO boxes were being stocked before the Office opened at 10. (there are open grates above all the walls where the PO boxes are). I could hear the postal workers discussing how it slowed them down as so many absentee ballots were going to PO boxes, they were worried that they may not finish stuffing the boxes before they opened.
Posted by: MSRedneck on October 24, 2005 10:41 AMIf a federal judge has declared him a US citizen, it would seem Logan would have no choice. Logan has less authority thatn a federal judge to make such a call. The federal judge may be off his rocker, but that is a different issue.
Posted by: fred on October 24, 2005 11:55 AMSome observations. First, his story seems highly improbable. Although he probably is Stephen Locklear's biological son. I don't think his mother really defected. If she had defected back in 1976 or 1977, she would have been granted asylum. All USSR citizens who defected back then (not the easiest task) were automatically granted asylum if they asked for it. His mother would have been welcomed with open arms, and her out-of-wedlock son would have gotten the normal public assistance, and tons of private charity.
She probably did have sex with his father while she was in the U.S. When she got back to then-Soviet Russia, she was probably treated poorly. She was pregnant and not married -- not the best thing back then, since the Commies actually believed in private morality. She would have been pressured to have an abortion. She didn't and had the kid, and ended up being shunted to a very lower class existence by the Commie authorities.
So Andrei goes through the Soviet educational system -- perhaps with his father's last name, his mother's last name, or even the last name of a man his mother may have later married. Who knows? But he learns English the best he can, and knows who his real father is. When he is an adult, he can freely leave post-Soviet Russia. He tries to sneak into the U.S. and gets caught.
It is a bizarre story, and who can really know the truth?
The unfortunate thing is the discrimination against men in the citizenship system. If a child is born out-of-wedlock to an American mother, they become a citizen automatically. If a child is born out-of-wedlock to an American father, they become a citizen only if paternity is legally established before they turn 21.
The law ought to be changed. If paternity can be conclusively established by modern DNA techniques, there should not be any age limit to being recognized as a natural born U.S. citizen.
Posted by: Richard Pope on October 24, 2005 02:53 PMI got a little fatigued of my fellow Americans continuously coming up to me and asking if I was "from the States". Sure, I can see that from Australians, but Americans? Anyway, I finally came up with a story just to mess with their minds. I told them no, I wasn't from America. Instead, there was a whole bunch of American soldiers who ended up moving to Australia after Vietnam, that my father was one of them and that I had grown up in this community of Americans in upper Queensland - that's where my American accent came from. Sad thing is, quite a few fell for it - must have been folks from the King County Elections board.
Posted by: Editor on October 24, 2005 04:39 PMYou must remember that this is Sound Politics....
Guilty until proven innocent.
Posted by: Jim King on October 25, 2005 05:59 AM