Quantcast
Channel: Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity – The Denver Post
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11

Trump signs order disbanding voter fraud commission

0
0

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday disbanding his controversial voter fraud commission amid infighting, lawsuits and state officials’ refusal to cooperate.

Trump convened the commission to investigate the 2016 presidential election, after alleging repeatedly and without evidence that voting fraud cost him the popular vote. Trump won the electoral college.

The White House blamed the decision to end the panel on more than a dozen states that have refused to comply with the commission’s demand for reams of personal voter data, including names, partial Social Security numbers, voting histories and party affiliations.

“Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to dissolve the Commission, and he has asked the Department of Homeland Security to review its initial findings and determine next courses of action,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Critics saw the commission as part of a conservative campaign to make it harder for poor people and minority voters to access the ballot box, and to justify Trump’s claims of voter fraud.

Trump has repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election, delivering the popular vote to his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Clinton received 2.8 million more votes than Trump nationwide.

While there have been isolated cases of voter fraud in the U.S., past studies have found it to be exceptionally rare.

Critics also viewed the commission as part of an attempt to distract from the ongoing investigations into Russian election meddling and potential collusion between Moscow and Trump campaign aides. The intelligence community concluded that the Russian government mounted a campaign to help Trump win, hacking email accounts and spreading false stories.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the commission’s vice chairman, characterized the decision to dissolve the bipartisan group as a “tactical change” and argued DHS can pursue an investigation of election fraud more quickly and efficiently.

“The Democrats, both on and off the commission, made very clear that they were not interested in determining the scope and extent of voter fraud and, indeed, they were trying to stop the commission in its tracks,” Kobach said. “The Democrats lost their opportunity, lost their seat at the table, by stonewalling.”

Kobach, a conservative Republican and vocal supporter of tough voter ID laws, alleged Democrats wanted no investigation. “Their motto is, ‘Nothing to see here,'” he said.

One of the members of the commission, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, sued the commission in federal court, alleging it had violated federal law by refusing to provide him documents available to other members, among other charges.

Dunlap on Wednesday said Kobach and his allies “were the ones that were stonewalling,” saying they had “very definite ideas of what they wanted this commission to come up with.”

Three Democratic senators — Michael Bennet of Colorado, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — had also asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate the commission, which it agreed to do in October.

Kobach said he intends to work closely with DHS and the White House, and expects the bulk of the DHS investigation to be done by midsummer.

Dunlap questioned if the plan all along was for the commission to be disbanded. “They’re going to abandon the public process and they’re going to do it behind the scenes,” he said. “Much more efficiently means no more public input.”

More than a dozen states, as well as the District of Columbia, had rebuffed the commission’s request for voter data, citing privacy concerns and a fear that complying would legitimize the idea that voter fraud is widespread.

While there have been isolated cases of people voting illegally, and many voter rolls contain outdated data, there is no evidence voter fraud is a widespread problem in the United States or has impacted election results.

A study by a Loyola Law School professor found that out of 1 billion votes cast in all American elections between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 known cases of impersonation fraud.

During the commission’s first meeting, Trump had questioned the motives of states that refused to comply with the commission’s request, suggesting they had something to hide.

Voter advocacy groups and Democrats applauded Wednesday’s decision.

“It is no surprise that a commission founded on a lie of widespread voter fraud proved to be a fraud itself,” said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat, who had refused to comply with the commission’s request for voter data. “No taxpayer dollars should have been wasted on Mr. Trump’s voter suppression crusade.”

Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, accused the commission of engaging in “a wild-goose chase for voter fraud, demonizing the very American voters whom we should all be helping to participate — with the not-so-secret goal of making voting harder with unnecessary barriers.

“President Trump has tried and failed to spread his own fake news about voter fraud,” Ho said.

The commission prompted a great deal of ire in Colorado where thousands of voters withdrew their registration rather than have their identifying information sent to the Trump administration. Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams sent voter data to the commission in August.

“Thousands of Coloradans cancelled their registrations because they knew this voter fraud commission lacked any objectivity or credibility,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat and fierce opponent of the commission, said in a tweet.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, said: “Good news here, but the President should have stated the actual reason for dissolving the commission — there is no credible evidence of massive voter fraud, and the commission was an attempt to disenfranchise voters.”

Williams, a Republican, reiterated in a statement Wednesday night that his office only sent the commission information that is public record and available under state law to anyone who requests it, including names, addresses, birth years and party affiliations.

“The commission requested states’ public voter roll data,” he said in a statement. “As we said in our July 14 letter to the commission, there are far better ways to effectively assess the accuracy of voter rolls and voter integrity than looking at publicly available data. We are always happy to work with other states, which have the authority over elections, on voter roll accuracy.”

Williams also reiterated that he feels confident that the state’s elections are safe and secure.

Updated Jan. 4, 2017 at 8:45 a.m. The following corrected information has been added to this article: Because of a reporter’s error, this story inaccurately characterized some of the voter information sent by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office to the Trump administration. The office sent voters’ birth years.


Denver Post staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report. Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images