Day 163: Partisan Trump Commission Demands Voter Rolls

Many states are pushing back at turning over sensitive information to a man with a long history of voter suppression.

The Donald Trump administration is seeking voter rolls, rife with personal information, from each state via the so-called Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Kris Kobach, secretary of state for Kansas, is the vice chairman of the commission, which is allegedly looking into voter fraud and voting irregularities.

In a letter sent to all 50 states by Kobach, each is being asked to turn over information for every registered voter in their state. The information requested includes: the names, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, last four digits of the voter’s Social Security Number and which elections the voter has participated in since 2006.

What Kobach and the commission will use the data for is unclear, as Kobach has spoken in generalities about the need for a lot of data to study election issues. Some people believe that the voter data will be used to purge legitimate voters from rolls. Others believe the data will be twisted and presented in a way to indicate widespread voter fraud when none exists.

The problems of turning over the information to Kobach — a man with a long, documented history of attempting to disenfranchise eligible voters— are obvious.

Indeed, we already know that one of Kobach’s main policy goals is to repeal the National Voter Registration Act, also known as Motor-Voter, which makes it easier to register to vote. He also supports strict proof of citizenship requirements for registration that make it harder for some people to vote — with zero corresponding “integrity benefit.”

Seen in this light, it seems obvious why Kobach has requested detailed voter data from all 50 states, and why almost half the states, like Virginia and Kentucky, are rightly refusing to comply. Setting aside the privacy concerns (of which there are many), this information will provide nothing useful while laying the groundwork for the commission to peddle its theories of massive voter fraud.

Red, blue and purple states have lined up in opposition to turning over anything to Kobach.

California’s Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, a Democrat, released a statement saying that he would not provide Kobach with the sensitive voter information:

“California’s participation would only serve to legitimize the false and already debunked claims of massive voter fraud made by the President, the Vice President, and Mr. Kobach.”

Mississippi’s Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, responded to Kobach:

“My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from. Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state’s right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes.”

Indiana’s Secretary of State, Connie Lawson, who worked under Mike Pence when he was governor, and is also part of the commission, released a statement indicating that she would be violating state law if she released the requested information.

Trump, unsurprisingly, is lashing out at states trying to uphold residents’ privacy rights and their own laws.

This panel is not distinguished. The fact that political affiliation of voters will be used by a partisan panel — just four of the 15 members of the commission are Democrats, and none are in real positions of any power — further indicates this will not be a fair commission acting with noble intentions. As a comparison, Barack Obama established a commission aimed at improving the election process. The co-chairs were Obama’s main election lawyer and Mitt Romney’s main election lawyer. The commission forwarded bipartisan recommendations and solutions to fix to election issues, such as long wait times.

Trump’s commission is being run by a Republican who has a history of attempting to suppress eligible voters in his state. Now, he’s working with a national scope at the behest of a president and vice president who have claimed that millions of people voted illegally.

163 days in, 1299 to go

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