A new report said the number of States that refused to turn over voter data to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has reached 44. Since there are only 50 states, it means only six states are willing to provide the Trump election commission the full names, addresses, dates of birth, political parties, social security numbers and other personal data of voters.
The low number of states willing to hand over the data could be because any documents that are submitted to the agency using the secure online portal will be made public eventually, The New York Daily News reported.
The idea of sharing sensitive and detailed voter information could breach state privacy regulations.
Analyzing election vulnerabilities
Kris Kobach, the vice chair of the commission, explains the agency, created by President Donald Trump to debunk the claim that the Republican candidate lost the popular vote in the 2016 election because of widespread voter fraud, wants to make the data public. The aim is to fully analyze the vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting.
Following widespread disagreement with Kobach’s order, a lot of state election officials called the commission a waste of taxpayer money just to prove Trump’s claim of rampant voter fraud. CNN reported that West Virginia, Michigan, South Carolina, and New Mexico were among the seven states that have not yet received Kobach’s letter but would not comply.
As of Monday afternoon, Nebraska, Idaho, and Florida were still studying Kobach’s request.
Almost 3 million votes difference
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton actually won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. Trump, however, got more votes in the Electoral College, but he claimed without providing evidence, that the almost 3 million vote lead by Clinton was allegedly because of voter impersonation or illegal ballots cast by immigrants who are not documented.
Kobach, however, insisted the aim of the commission is not to validate or nurture Trump’s claim of voter fraud, Forbes reported. Among the reasons why state election officials refuse to turn over data is because they would have to do it through an online portal. Other election officials said they cannot provide social security numbers.
As usual, Trump used the refusal by the states to turn over voter data to push his claim of voter fraud.
Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017
The Washington Examiner reported that since Kobach is running for governor of Kansas, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law asked the Department of Justice to probe whether he breached the Hatch Act. The group accused Kobach of using his position to benefit his campaign for governor.
