Trump’s voter panel just political posturing.
Until President Donald Trump began spewing outlandish claims, nobody suspected massive voter fraud was running amok through elections in the United States.
Trump started the nonsense that the election would be tainted by immense voter fraud. Then after he won, he continued to claim that up to 5 million illegal voters cast ballots to explain how he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. Did “widespread fraud” sweep him into office? Of course not.
What is for certain is that Trump couldn’t back off his unfounded claims, so he set up the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to look into fraud. Unfortunately, its No. 2 guy — the vice president heads it — is a Republican with a history of repressing legitimate voters in Kansas, where he is secretary of state.
Kris Kobach recently sent letters to all 50 states requesting copies of voter rolls, including such personal information as the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers and “information regarding military status.”
So far, at least 44 states have refused to play. They rightly see this demand for what it is — a solution on the prowl for a problem. Officials have various explanations for their refusals, but they all boil down to the same one in the end: Nobody wants to star in one of Trump’s delusional dramas.
Who can blame them? There is no reason to participate because no major problem exists, and they already know it. Of course, that won’t stop a one-sided commission from finding one. Had Trump or any other alarmist presented information showing more than the occasional accidentally double-registered voter, supervisors across the country would have a moral obligation to turn over the information.
Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Rick Scott decided to hand over some of the information requested. Most of it, with the exception of a voter’s last four Social Security digits, already is public in this state. Anyone can go to the local supervisor’s office and view the information or buy digitized voter rolls used to send sending campaign mailers.
Participating in this charade, however, carries a larger message because this is a pointless political exercise, nothing more. It’s just another way for Trump to test the loyalty of governors across the nation.
The commission is stacked with partisan politicians and doesn’t even include data experts. Last week, Trump appointed a fellow who has long been a polarizing figure despised by votingrights advocates. Opponents say — often in lawsuits — that Hans A. von Spakovsky’s efforts target minorities and the poor.
On June 23, a federal judge fined Kobach $1,000 for making “patently misleading representations” about documents relating
to federal voting law that he used in a November meeting with Trump. That’s the thing about federal judges — they’re unimpressed by “alternate facts.” It’s good to know that so trustworthy a leader as Kobach is the point man, isn’t it?
One-sided commissions stacked with people who already have announced the outcome of a probe won’t produce anything worth knowing.
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said it best in statements declining to share the information.
His state’s participation “would only serve to legitimize the false and already debunked claims of massive voter fraud made by the President, the Vice President, and Mr. Kobach,” he said.
The commission is a waste of taxpayer money, he said, and a distraction from the real threats — aging voting systems and Russian hacking — to American democracy’s most precious right.
The nation’s voter rolls are almost certainly outdated. Officials who run elections across the nation struggle to purge the lists of those who have died or who have found a new residence in this mobile society.
But the notion that up to 5 million people fraudulently voted is preposterous. Scott would be wise to keep as much information about Floridians and their personal data away from this toxic commission. Its conclusions will be tainted with politics and cannot in any way be considered independent.