44 out of 50 states have declined to provide data to President Trump’s voter fraud commission
Four out of five states can’t or won’t fork over private data to President Trump’s “very distinguished” voter fraud commission, according to a new report.
Forty-four states have refused to supply varying degrees of voter information requested last week by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, vice chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, CNN reported.
Kobach’s commission — launched in the wake of Trump’s debunked claims that widespread voter fraud lost him the 2016 election’s popular vote — said it wants “publicly available” state-level data in order to “fully analyze vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting.”
In a Wednesday letter to all 50 states, Kobach asked for voters’ full names, addresses, dates of birth, party affiliations, voter history since 2006, felony convictions and the last four digits of social security numbers.
Any documents submitted to the commission through the secure online portal will eventually be made public, the letter said.
Several states have recoiled at the idea of parting with such sensitive and detailed voter information, some of which runs afoul of state privacy laws. Others have said they will provide only info that’s public under state law.
Many state election officials have also issued sharp rebukes — calling the commission a waste of taxpayer money based on Trump’s evidence-free premise of rampant voter fraud.