Voter Roll Request: More Than One Dozen States Push Back Against Pence/Kobach Commission

Several states pushed hard Thursday against a request for reams of information - much of it not public - from the controversial Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity chaired by Vice President Mike Pence.

The request, in the form of a letter to sent to all 50 states from Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of States and the state's former Republican Party chairman, asks for all publicly available voter roll date. It then adds on requests for addresses, email addresses, birthdates, and the last four digits of people's social security numbers.

The commission was formed earlier this year by President Trump who has claimed that between 3 and 5 million illegal votes were cast for his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.

In his letter, Kobach says the material will allow the "commission to fully analyze the vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting."

Several secretaries of state expressed some degree of skepticism. (For more information on this and other local stories, subscribe to your local Patch for breaking news alerts.)

The Connecticut Secretary of State, Denise Merrill, released a statement saying that while "we intend to share publicly-available information" they are concerned about what they see as a lack of transparency by the commission.

"This lack of openness is all the more concerning, considering that the Vice Chair of
the Commission, Kris Kobach, has a lengthy record of illegally disenfranchising eligible voters in
Kansas," she said. "The courts have repudiated his methods on multiple occasions but often after the damage has been done to voters.

"Given Secretary Kobach's history we find it very difficult to have confidence in the work of this Commission."

Merrill was likely referring to the fact a federal judge last week fined Kobach $1,000 for "deceptive conduct and lack of candor" in answering questions about a document he was photographed taking into a meeting with then-President-elect Trump.

The document appeared to reference possible changes to the nation's motor voter law.

The ACLU, which is suing Kobach over plans to change the voter registration laws in Kansas, tried to get the document. He refused. They went to court.

Kobach, at first, denied the document existed, which the judge found to be "patently misleading."

In Colorado, meanwhile, Secretary of State Wayne Williams also said he would cooperate - to a point.

"We will provide publicly available information on the voter file," Williams said, adding that information such as Social Security numbers and full dates of birth - which are not publicly available - will be withheld from the commission.

Virginia Governor Terry McAullife said that "I have no intention of honoring this request. The entire commission is based on the special and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November."

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes called the commission "at best a waste of taxpayer money and at worst an attempt to legitimize voter suppression efforts across the country."

California's Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, also made it clear his state will not be complying with the request, saying that the commission is a waste of taxpayer money and a distraction from the real threats to the integrity of our elections today: aging voting systems and documented Russian interference in our elections.

"The President's commission has requested the personal data and the voting history of every American voter–including Californians," Padilla said. "As Secretary of State, it is my duty to ensure the integrity of our elections and to protect the voting rights and privacy of our state's voters.

"I will not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally."

The pushback was by no means a partisan affair.

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican - albeit one who did not endorse Trump last year - said in a statement he would not be fulfilling the request.

"They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi is a great state to launch from," Hosemann said in a statement posted on his website. "Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state's right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes."

Vanita Gupta, who was in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration, warned in a tweet that "Pence and Kobach are laying the groundwork for voter suppression, plain & simple."

At least one member of the bipartisan commission, New Hampshire Secretary Bill Gardner - a Democrat - said give the commission time.

After a conference call with Pence, Gardner told WMUR that Pence said "'Find the facts and draw your recommendations.' He said, 'Don't prejudge' and, 'Expect healthy debates.' He stressed that we will be working on a bipartisan basis.'"

In his letter, Kobach does ask the secretaries of state for their input on a variety of other issues.

1. What changes, if any, to federal election laws would you recommend to enhance the integrity of federal elections?
2. How can the Commission support state and local election administrators with regard to information technology security and vulnerabilities?
3. What laws, policies, or other issues hinder your ability to ensure the integrity of elections you administer?
4. What evidence or information do you have regarding instances of voter fraud or registration fraud in your state?
5. What convictions for election-related crimes have occurred in your state since the November 2000 federal election?
6. What recommendations do you have for preventing voter intimidation or disenfranchisement?
7. What other issues do you believe the Commission should consider?

The commission has their first official meeting on July 19.

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