USA TODAY International Edition
Trump scraps commission on election integrity
President says states wouldn’t cooperate
WASHINGTON – President Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday disbanding his own election integrity commission after less than eight months, saying he didn’t want to waste taxpayer money fighting with state governments over their voter data.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, co-chairman of the panel, said the investigation into alleged voter fraud would continue — and could pick up speed without the formalities of a commission.
Trump said the commission’s work will go to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry,” Trump said in a statement. “Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the commission and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action.”
Many states, citing voter privacy laws, refused to provide the commission data on their voters without an act of Congress. Those troubles ground the commission’s work to a standstill last fall.
The commission sparked at least 15 lawsuits in federal and state courts, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Most complaints were about voter data and the commission’s lack of transparency. One lawsuit was filed by a Democratic member of the commission, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, who said he was left out of the loop on the commission’s deliberations.