Voter fraud: Knowing it when you see it
Gov. Tom Wolf and a growing list of his colleagues around the country know fraud when they see it. They have rejected the Trump administration’s search for ways to further restrict ballot access.
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Electoral Integrity sent letters to all 50 states asking officials to turn over comprehensive lists of registered voters, including partial Social Security numbers, birth dates, and driver license numbers for every voter in the state.
In his pointed response, Wolf correctly concluded that the objective of the commission is not to improve electoral integrity but to disenfranchise more voters under the guise of battling voter fraud.
That’s not simply based on a Democratic governor’s view of a Republican administration. It’s based on the comments and record of the commission vice chairman himself, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. In multiple interviews with conservative media, Kobach has said that a major objective of the exercise is to lay a foundation for purging voter rolls.
And Democrats aren’t alone in recognizing the subterfuge. Among those refusing to turn over the requested information are the Republican secretaries of state of Alabama, Iowa, Ohio and Indiana, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence, the commission chairman.
In Pennsylvania, the issue has special resonance. When he campaigned in the state last year, candidate Donald Trump complained loudly, repeatedly and falsely about voter fraud in Pennsylvania without providing any evidence of it for the best possible reason — there wasn’t any evidence.
Now the administration is using federal resources to try to put meat on the bones of Trump’s bogus claim that he would have won the popular vote but for voter fraud to the tune of 3 million to 5 million votes. That claim has been debunked by election officials from states red and blue.
Elections are state business. Wolf and the other governors are entirely on the mark in keeping it that way. They have informed the commission that it, just like any other citizen or entity, is entitled to publicly available voter information and subject to the same rules for its use.
Given the thinly disguised purpose of the commission, the states’ responses are the best way to ensure electoral integrity.