Democrats Behind Pushback to Election Integrity Commission’s Voter Data Request

US President Donald Trump smiles during a joint press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 30, 2017. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Democratic state officials are overwhelmingly responsible for the pushback against a request for voter data from a commission on election integrity formed by President Donald Trump.

A total of 14 states have publicly refused to comply with the commission’s request. Of those, 12 refusals came from Democratic secretaries of state and governors. Meanwhile, officials that are complying with the request are almost all Republican.

President Trump believes that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election. He tasked the commission with identifying vulnerabilities in electoral policies and practices that can lead to fraudulent voter registrations and voting.

The commission sent letters to all 50 states on June 28, requesting that they submit publicly available voter roll data. That data would include the voter’s first and last name, address, date of birth, last four digits of their social security number, and other information.

States are mandated by federal law to keep public records of voter registrations and make them available to federal authorities upon request. 

In his refusal to comply with the commission’s request, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said that claims of voter fraud are “false and already debunked.” Padilla’s refusal contradicts California’s election code and disregards mounting evidence that voter fraud is widespread and persistent.

There have have been 581 voter fraud cases in the United States leading to 848 convictions, according to a voter fraud database compiled by the Heritage Foundation. In a recent report on voter fraud in Virginia, 5,556 non-citizens illegally registered to vote and cast 7,474 votes. A 2012 Pew study found that more than 1.8 million dead people are listed as voters and that 2.75 million people are registered to vote in more than one state.

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity will hold its first public meeting on July 19th. Vice President Mike Pence is the chair and Kris Kobach, Secretary of State of Kansas, is the vice chair.

Kobach initiated the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program which has grown to include 30 participating states. Crosscheck uses public voter data to prevent voter fraud by, for example, identifying voters who registered in more than one state.