All 50 states have received a letter from President Trump's new Election Integrity Commission, requesting the name, address, date of birth, party affiliation, last four Social Security number digits, and voting history back to 2006 for each voter in the state, and several state officials have already said they won't be turning this personal data over.
In the letter, the commission's vice chairman, Kris Kobach, said that "any documents that are submitted to the full commission will also be made available to the public." On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence's office said the commission is seeking "feedback on how to improve election integrity," but the commission is focusing on the wrong issues, multiple governors said. "I have no intention of honoring this request," Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said in a statement. "Virginia conducts fair, honest, and democratic elections, and there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in Virginia."
Trump, who has made baseless claims that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, created the commission to investigate voter fraud, which is incredibly rare in the United States. Kobach is the Kansas secretary of state who was fined $1,000 this month by a federal judge who ruled that he presented "misleading arguments in a voting-related lawsuit." Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrrill told The Washington Post she would share publicly available information with the commission "while ensuring that the privacy of voters is honored by withholding protected data," adding that Kobach "has a lengthy record of illegally disenfranchising eligible voters in Kansas" and due to his history "we find it very difficult to have confidence in the work of this commission."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 health-conscious cartoons about anti-vaccine rhetoricCartoons Artists take on RFK Jr's militant methods, the viral lottery, and more
-
September 13 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include court-approved racial profiling and America's moral compass
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashionIn the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
