WA Secretary Of State May Partially Comply With Trump's Voter Data Request

OLYMPIA, WA - Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman is leaning toward complying with a request to release public information about Washington voters to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which is headed by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Pence and Kobach have sent letters to secretaries of state in all 50 states asking for voter data such as addresses, military status, email addresses, and the last four digits of social security numbers. Some secretaries of state have balked at the request. The Mississippi secretary of state advised Pence and Kobach to "go jump in the Gulf of Mexico," and Gov. Jay Inslee seconded that sentiment by saying that they should go jump in Lake Washington.

But Wyman is bound by state law, and some of the data requested by Pence and Kobach is public. Wyman is saying she is likely to comply with the public records request, but will confer further with other secretaries of state at an upcoming conference.

Her office released a statement on the issue Saturday:

“As with any request for public records, we are required to comply pursuant to state law regardless of who is making the request. However, as we've only just received the letter from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, it will take some time to review and thoughtfully consider the other requests made of us.

“Next week I'll be attending the National Association of Secretaries of State’s summer meeting and will have the opportunity for a rigorous discussion about these matters. I look forward to hearing from my colleagues and will be in a better position at that time to consider the commission's additional requests.”

President Donald Trump formed the commission earlier this year after asserting that up to 5 million people fraudulently voted in the 2016, which is the reason why he lost the popular vote. Kobach is saying that the commission will use the data to "fully analyze the vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting."

Image via Washington Secretary of State