Trump ‘Voter Fraud’ Commission Already Accused of Breaking Federal Law

Commission Calls Reports States Are Refusing to Comply ‘Fake News’

The White House has released a statement falsely calling reports most states have refused to comply with Trump’s Voter Integrity Commission’s requests, “fake news.” Yes, this White House is so media obsessed, so hell-bent on attacking the free press every chance it gets it uses terms like “fake news.”

Except, the White House is the one that’s spreading lies.

“On June 28, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity issued a letter requesting that states provide publicly available voter data as permitted under their state laws,” the statement by Kris Kobach, the commission’s vice-chair, begins. “At present, 20 states have agreed to provide the publicly available information requested by the Commission and another 16 states are reviewing which information can be released under their state laws,” it claims.

“In all, 36 states have either agreed or are considering participating with the Commission’s work to ensure the integrity of the American electoral system,” Kobach, who is the attorney for an anti-immigrant hate group, continues. That number appears to be false.

“While there are news reports that 44 states have ‘refused’ to provide voter information to the Commission, these reports are patently false, more ‘fake news’. At present, only 14 states and the District of Columbia have refused the Commission’s request for publicly available voter information,” Kobach claims. “Despite media distortions and obstruction by a handful of state politicians, this bipartisan commission on election integrity will continue its work to gather the facts through public records requests to ensure the integrity of each American’s vote because the public has a right to know.”

What, exactly, the public has a right to know is unclear, but the commission was created to prove Trump’s lies that millions of people voted “illegally.” 

Now, some actual facts.

Kobach and his commission (technically chaired by Vice President Mike Pence) requested from all 50 states the names, addresses, party affiliation, voting history, partial social security numbers, and other information of all registered voters in the nation.

So first, the Commission is operating in an illegal manner, according to Larry Schwartztol, an ACLU litigator and Counsel of the group Protect Democracy. 

“Dropping this sweeping request on the nation’s election officials also violated federal law,” specifically, the Paperwork Reduction Act, Schwartztol writes, adding it also “violates federal privacy protections for the government to assemble a master database of voting records.”

Next, Ari Berman of The Nation, who is one of the best reporters on voting rights, makes clear exactly why Kobach is totally wrong. 

Berman says 20 states won’t comply, 25 states will only hand over partial data, and 5 states have yet to respond. That makes 45 states not fully complying, not 44:

He adds that the commission was set up “to spread false information about voter fraud.”

Kobach has a bad reputation and ties to white nationalists. Berman has been named one of the “50 most influential political pundits.”

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Image by AndrewRosenthal via Flickr and a CC license