Trump dissolves controversial voter fraud commission
President Trump has disbanded his voter fraud commission, citing the refusal of many state election officials to hand over voter data due to privacy concerns.
In a statement attributed to Trump on Wednesday, the White House said that "despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry. Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the commission, and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action." The White House did not provide any examples of evidence showing voter fraud.
Trump established the commission in May, and its leaders wanted states to share personal information on voters, including their birth dates and partial Social Security numbers. Its vice chairman, conservative Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, would not go on record saying Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election, and in an email to the Justice Department prior to his appointment, member Hans Von Spakovsky from the Heritage Foundation said he didn't think any Democrats, moderate Republicans, or academics should be allowed on the panel.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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