Trump signs order disbanding voter panel

WASHINGTON » President Donald Trump has signed an executive order disbanding his controversial voter fraud commission amid infighting, legal threats and information denials.

The White House blamed the decision, noted late Wednesday, on a refusal by more than a dozen states to comply with the commission request for reams of personal voter data, including voters’ names, voting histories and party affiliations.

“Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to dissolve the Commission, and he has asked the Department of Homeland Security to review its initial findings and determine next courses of action,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Critics said the panel was part of a conservative effort to make it harder for poor people and minority voters to access the ballot box and to justify unfounded claims made by Trump that voter fraud cost him the popular vote in 2016.

Trump has alleged, without evidence, that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election, delivering the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival.

Past studies have found voter fraud to be exceptionally rare.

“It’s about time,” said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who had refused to provide the commission information about state voters earlier this year, in an interview. “This commission started off based on a lie ... I’m glad that no further taxpayer dollars are going to be wasted on this crusade of the president.”

The executive order kept open the possibility that the federal Department of Homeland Security would continue to investigate voter fraud. “We will continue to be vigilant and push back every step of the way,” Padilla said, while noting that there were areas he could work with the department such as increasing cybersecurity for voting machines.