States nix Trump panel request for voter info
SETBACK: The request caused a backlash in Virginia, Kentucky, California, New York, Massachusetts and other states
CHICAGO: A growing number of US states refused on Friday to give voters’ names, addresses and sensitive personal information to a commission created by President Donald Trump to investigate alleged voter fraud, saying the demand was unnecessary and violated privacy.
“This commission was formed to try to find basis for the lie that President Trump put forward that has no foundation,” Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said in an interview.
Republican Trump has made unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. He established the panel by executive order in May despite evidence that voter fraud was not widespread.
Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity sent a letter to all 50 states on Wednesday asking them to turn over voter information including names, the last four digits of social security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, felony convictions and voting histories.
The request from commission Vice-Chairman Kris Kobach caused a backlash in Virginia, Kentucky, California, New York, Massachusetts and other states, where election officials said they could not or would not provide all the data.
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said on Thursday that handing over information would only serve to legitimise debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.
Elections officials in Connecticut, Minnesota, Oklahoma and other states said they would only turn over public information, not private information. Some states said certain data such as social security numbers were not publicly available. Others raised privacy concerns or questioned the need to examine voter fraud.
Kobach, the secretary of state for Kansas, has been a highprofile advocate of tougher laws on immigration and voter identification.
Kobach was quoted in a Kansas City Star article as saying that his own state would not provide social security numbers at this time since they are not publicly available. Kobach did not rule out providing that information in the future.
In his letter, a copy of which was provided to Reuters by the Connecticut Secretary of State’s office, Kobach also asked states for feedback on how to improve election integrity and for evidence of voter fraud and convictions of voter-related crimes since 2000.
Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have called the commission a tactic to suppress votes against Republicans.
“States are right to balk at turning over massive reams of personal information in what clearly is a campaign to suppress the vote,” Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, said in a statement on Friday.
While the public availability of voter data varies by state, the request raises privacy concerns, said Richard Hasen, a University of California, Irvine, professor who studies election law.