Here's which states are refusing Trump's voter data request and why
About half of all states have refused to fully comply with a Trump administration request for comprehensive voter data to investigate President Trump's suspicions of election fraud, a rejection Trump himself suggests is a sign the state governments are hiding something. Via The Washington Post, here's a breakdown of which states have said no — and why.
Intriguingly, the Post's map shows the refusals aren't clearly partisan. Four of the 10 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that have refused outright backed Trump in 2016, and 16 more red states have only agreed to partial compliance:
The rationales for denying the Election Integrity Commission's demand vary. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) said he would not "provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally." Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) labeled the investigation "at best a waste of taxpayer money and at worst an attempt to legitimize voter suppression efforts across the country."
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Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann (R) responded more colorfully, inviting the commission to "go jump in the Gulf of Mexico" in a statement citing concerns about privacy and federal overreach. Kansas and Indiana officials said some aspects of compliance would violate state law, while Alabama demanded proof the data would be stored securely.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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