Hostility to voting panel draws president’s wrath

OKLAHOMA CITY — President Trump is upset that all states aren’t fully cooperating with his voting commission’s request for detailed information about every voter in the United States.

Some of the most populous state, including California and New York, are refusing to comply. But even some conservative states that voted for Trump, such as Texas, say they can provide only partial responses based on what is legally allowed under state law.

“Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?” Trump said in a tweet Saturday.

Given the mishmash of information Trump’s commission will receive, it’s unclear how useful it will be or what the commission will do with it. Trump established the commission to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the 2016 elections, but Democrats have blasted it as a biased panel that is merely looking for ways to suppress the vote.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, a Democrat who is a member of Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, defended the request Friday. He said the commission expected that many states would only partially comply because open records laws differ from state to state.

He said he has received calls from unhappy constituents who said they didn’t want Trump to see their personal information. “But this is not private, and a lot of people don’t know that,” he said.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders blasted the decision by some governors and secretaries of state not to comply.

“I think that that’s mostly about a political stunt,” she told reporters at a White House briefing Friday

It’s not just Democrats bristling at the requested information. Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, said he had not received the commission’s request. If he does receive it?

“My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,” he said. “Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state’s right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes.”

Commission vice chairman Kris Kobach sent a letter asking for the names, party affiliations, addresses, voting histories, felony convictions, military service and last four digits of Social Security numbers for all voters.