Justice

Almost Every State Is Not Having Trump's Voter Fraud Commission Shenanigans

July 5th 2017

At least 44 states, and the District of Columbia, are refusing to offer some of the information requested by President Trump’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

The commission sent the written request last week, which asked for information including voter addresses, voting history, and the last four digits of voter’s social security numbers. The letter was signed by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity Vice Chair and Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach, whose own state refused to comply with parts of the request.

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The request came with an outline of the stated intent of the commission, which is to study, "the registration and voting processes used in federal elections and submitting a report to the President of the United States that identifies laws, rules, policies, activities, strategies, and practices that enhance or undermine the American people’s confidence in the integrity of federal elections processes."

But while the commission twice specifies requests for “publicly available” information, some of the items requested, including partial digits of social security numbers, are not public information.

The letter also noted that, “any documents that are submitted to the full Commission will also be made available to the public.”

"any documents that are submitted to the full Commission will also be made available to the public."

States are concerned about an invasion of privacy. 

Secretaries of state on both sides of the aisle have come out in fiery opposition to the request on the basis of voter privacy protection.

“The President’s Commission has quickly politicized its work by asking states for an incredible amount of voter data that I have, time and time again, refused to release,” said Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler, a Republican, in a statement.

Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise W. Merrill, a Democrat, echoed his comments in her statement and noted that the request could negatively affect voter participation: "This Commission needs to understand clearly, disclosure of such sensitive information is more likely to diminish voter participation rather than foster it. I have been fighting this kind of federal intrusion and overreach, and will continue to fight like hell for the people who trust me with the integrity of our election process.”

The commission's requests follow Trump's accusations of widespread voter fraud following the 2016 election.

In a series of tweets, Trump cited fraud at the ballot box as the reason he lost the popular vote.

So far, there has been no evidence to back up this claim, while a growing body of research demonstrates the extreme implausibility of orchestrated voter fraud across the country.

In a survey conducted by CNN, only Colorado, Tennessee, and Missouri registered a positive response to the request, but still expressed an unwillingness to disclose private information.

"We will provide publicly available information on the voter file, which is all they have asked for," said Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams in a statement. “We are very glad they are asking for information before making decisions.”

Trump expressed his displeasure at the pushback on Twitter. 

Florida and Nebraska are reviewing the commission’s request, and New Jersey and Hawaii have not yet responded to CNN's report for comment. Of the six states who have reportedly not yet received the letter, only Illinois and Arkansas have refrained from releasing statements indicating they will not comply with requests.