Trump’s New ‘Election Integrity’ Commission to Be Headed by Anti-Immigrant Republican Tied to White Nationalists

Potential Tool to Disenfranchise Democratic Voters

Later today President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to combat what he has claimed is massive voter fraud across the country. Trump will create the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity in response to statements he made in November after the election, including his false claim that he “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

Nationwide outrage ensued and the Trump camp was unable to credibly support the President-elect’s claims. Trump officials instead pointed to a report that noted voter rolls include large numbers of people no longer living because local governments have not funded agencies responsible for their upkeep. 

The Presidential Commission on Election Integrity will be co-chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and Kanas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is also the attorney for an organization that appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of active anti-immigrant hate groups.

Kobach also has long-standing ties to white nationalists, and is responsible for anti-immigrant legislation in at least six states, including Arizona’s infamous SB70.

Secretary Kobach is “of counsel,” the on-record attorney for the Immigration Law Reform Institute, which serves as the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-immigrant hate group.

Study after study after study has shown that actual voter fraud is minuscule.

New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice’s found rates of voter fraud to be “between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent.”

The Brennan Center also cites a “comprehensive 2014 study published in The Washington Post [which] found 31 credible instances of impersonation fraud from 2000 to 2014, out of more than 1 billion ballots cast. Even this tiny number is likely inflated, as the study’s author counted not just prosecutions or convictions, but any and all credible claims.”

ABC News reports Trump’s “commission, which will include Republicans and Democrats, will be tasked with studying ‘vulnerabilities’ in U.S. voting systems and potential effects on ‘improper voting, fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent voting,’ according to one official with knowledge of the announcement.”

While that is absolutely important, given that Kris Kobach will be in charge there is every reason to believe it will be used as a voter suppression tool, possibly disenfranchising millions, and enabling Republicans to increase their takeover of statehouses and add to their current House and Senate majorities. It could even be used to help Trump win re-election.

To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page.

Image by AndrewRosenthal via Flickr and a CC license