Meanwhile, President Trump’s
controversial election commission holds its first official meeting, and the president suggests states that withhold information might have something to hide.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence opened the first meeting of the White House’s voter fraud task force with a vigorous defense of the commission’s mission, even as critics questioned its transparency, impartiality and data-collection efforts.
Pence, who chairs the commission, said it “has no preconceived notions or preordained results” and will work to “enhance the American people’s confidence in our electoral system.”
Critics, however, have said the commission appears to have been stacked with members who support Trump’s unfounded claims that millions of fraudulent votes were cast in the 2016 election. Trump, who trailed in the popular vote by nearly 3 million, blamed that loss on immigrants in the country illegally who voted.
Nearly every credible study has concluded that voter fraud is either nonexistent or too small to affect election outcomes.
“Voter fraud is extremely rare and very isolated when it happens,” said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who watched the meeting but is not part of the commission. “They’re attempting to distract from the real issues.”
Padilla said there are other more pressing issues deserving of federal attention, such as Russia’s interference in the election. He worried the commission would be used to suppress voter turnout. “They will be using it as a vehicle to roll back voting rights,” he said.
The meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was closed to the public and media, but livestreamed on the White House website.
The commission has been hit with a flurry of lawsuits since requesting voter information from states, including dates of birth, addresses, partial Social Security numbers and election participation figures since 2006.
In response to a lawsuit from the public interest research group Electronic Privacy Information Center, the commission stopped collection of voter information July 10 pending the court’s ruling, which is expected anytime.
Many states had declined to release any voter information based on their own privacy laws and protections, and others have agreed to submit only partial information.
As he has before, Trump said Wednesday that states’ refusal to release voter information was suspect. “If any state does not want to share this information, one has to wonder what they’re worried about. There’s something, there always is,” he said.
In addition to the EPIC lawsuit, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Citizen, Common Cause and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund have sued, citing privacy concerns and other alleged violations.
A federal district court ruled Tuesday in favor of the commission in two separate lawsuits filed from the ACLU and the Lawyers’ Committee. Both groups were seeking to block the commission’s meetings.
The commission met via teleconference in June, but Wednesday’s meeting, chaired by Pence, was the first public meeting.