Without Permission White House Publishes Personal Contact Information of Private Citizens Responding to Voter Data Request
Why Should Americans Trust the White House Voter Fraud Commission With Our Voting Data When They Won’t Keep Our Personal Information Safe?
The White House voter fraud commission has published over 100 pages of emails from private citizens writing to support or oppose its request of all 50 state governors to submit its voter data files. Those emails appear on the White House’s website and are not redacted. Many of them contain not only their their remarks but personal contact information, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, email address, and place of employment, according to the Washington Post.
There is absolutely no indication the White House requested permission from any of the senders to publish their information or remarks, and in a stunning move, after receiving the emails, posted a statement saying “the Commission may post such written comments publicly on our website, including names and contact information that are submitted.”
That “disclaimer” was included in a White House blog post dated July 13. The file of emails the White House posted is dated June 29-July 11.Â
It is unclear if the emails published are just a selection or all the ones received, but with few exceptions they are almost all opposed to the commission, Kobach, and the project.
The request from the commission’s chair, Mike Pence, and vice chair, Kris Kobach sparked outrage from the public and refusals from nearly every governor. Kobach had requested from every state, and Washington, D.C., every registered voter’s first and last name, address, date of birth, party registration, social security information, voting history, felony convictions, military status, and overseas citizen information.
Vanita Gupta, President Barack Obama’s now-former head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, made clear what the goal of the “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” really is: “voter suppression, plain and simple,” she wrote in late June.
NCRM has examined the emails but will not link to them in an attempt to keep that data private, something the White House has just proven it does not care to do.
But here’s a sample of some of the comments, no names or personal identifying info included:
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On Twitter, many were quickly outraged and weighed in.
Former NFL star Chris Kluwe accused the White House of using the same tactics against its opponents as were used in Gamergate:
Following the same strategy set forth by CloudFlare as seen in Gamergate. Implicit threat to those who protest mistreatment. https://t.co/3nbX5FgAAB
— Cassandra (@ChrisWarcraft) July 14, 2017
Well-known Election Law blogger and Professor of Law and Political Science at UC Irvine:
Pretty good indication as to how careful the Pence-Kobach commission will be with sensitive voter data. https://t.co/cfvHQvau9M
— Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) July 14, 2017
Former Hill staffer, current defense analyst:
Trump’s voter fraud commission is too inept to handle emails, never mind voter files https://t.co/S9XJWLvv3u
— Matthew Vallone (@MattVallone) July 14, 2017
ACLU researcher:
It’s not like a member of the Kobach commission once posted millions of Social Security numbers https://t.co/9WkIFWVT4M
— Brian Tashman (@briantashman) July 14, 2017
RELATED STORIES:
ACLU Sues Trump, Pence Over White House Voter Fraud Commission
Trump ‘Voter Fraud’ Commission Already Accused of Breaking Federal Law
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