Wisconsin House Democrats Urge State Officials to Reject Presidential •Voter Fraud' Commission's Request for Sensitive Information
Washington, DC,
July 24, 2017
Let's call the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity what it really is: A painfully transparent attempt by President Trump to substantiate his unfounded claims about voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election.
Washington, D.C. – In response to an appeal by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity for sensitive information on Wisconsin voters, Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-04), Congressman Mark Pocan (WI-02), and Congressman Ron Kind (WI-03), wrote a letter to the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette urging them to disregard the Commission’s request. “Let’s call the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity what it really is: A painfully transparent attempt by President Trump to substantiate his unfounded claims about voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election,” said Congresswoman Moore. “With Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach at the helm of this Commission – the architect of several restrictive voter suppression initiatives against communities of color for which he was sued by the A.C.L.U. on four separate occasions – I fear our country will once again see an influx of discriminatory policies reminiscent of the ‘grandfather clauses’ of the Jim Crow era. I simply cannot endorse the release of sensitive voter information to a Commission led by a man whose connections to organizations deemed ‘hate groups’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center reach back over a decade.” “More than 8 months after the 2016 election, President Trump still cannot comprehend how he lost the popular vote to Secretary Clinton. Despite his place in the White House, he is still clinging to the false claim that there was widespread voter fraud and his sham President Commission on Election Integrity only serves to perpetuate that myth,” said Congressman Pocan. “President Trump’s sham commission will be used as a tool of discrimination and voter suppression, not as a way to strengthen and secure our electoral process. Wisconsin should join states across the country in rejecting President Trump’s demands to turn over data. Our voters deserve it.” “It is absolutely outrageous that in 2017 we still have politicians who are trying to make it harder for Wisconsinites to vote,” said Congressman Kind. “I urge the Wisconsin Elections Commission, in the strongest terms possible, to refuse requests by the Trump Administration to turn over Wisconsinites’ private information.” “Never before has the personal voting data of so many—over 200 million Americans—been compiled and stored in one source,” the Members of Congress wrote. “The collection of this information by the Commission creates an undue risk to the privacy rights of Wisconsin voters. While we note that your current position on this matter is to supply the Commission with publically accessible data and to charge a fee for the remaining information, we caution that your decision to even partially cooperate with this inquest exposes the Wisconsin electorate to significant, irreparable harm, especially in light of allegations of extensive efforts by Russia and others to interfere in our democracy. A price should not be placed on the privacy of our constituents.” Wisconsin Elections Commission 212 East Washington Avenue, Third Floor P.O. Box 7984 Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7984 Dear Wisconsin Elections Commission, We write today to strongly encourage you to disregard the request of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (the Commission) for the State of Wisconsin to provide it with a list of names, social security data, addresses, dates of birth, political affiliation, criminal background, voting history, and military status of Wisconsin registered voters. The request exposes the private information of the Wisconsin electorate to the potential of being compromised in order to prove the baseless claim of President Trump that millions of people cast illegal in-person ballots. The Commission’s Vice Chair, and sitting Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach maintains that the requested information is needed to safeguard against in-person election fraud. However, as Secretary of State, Kobach has not been able to demonstrate that in-person voter fraud is a problem despite it being his top policy priority. It is worth noting, he is the only Secretary of State with prosecutorial authority over ballot fraud. His aggressive pursuit to prove voter fraud in Kansas has resulted in only a single conviction, but multiple lawsuits. Never before has the personal voting data of so many—over 200 million Americans—been compiled and stored in one source. The collection of this information by the Commission creates an undue risk to the privacy rights of Wisconsin voters. While we note that your current position on this matter is to supply the Commission with publically accessible data and to charge a fee for the remaining information, we caution that your decision to even partially cooperate with this inquest exposes the Wisconsin electorate to significant, irreparable harm, especially in light of allegations of extensive efforts by Russia and others to interfere in our democracy. A price should not be placed on the privacy of our constituents. We know from our intelligence community that a hostile foreign government indeed tried to influence our 2016 presidential election. Former FBI Director James Comey confirmed in his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee that Russian military intelligence attacked our nation’s voter software in an effort to influence the election and weaken our democracy. We have also seen reports in recent days that the Trump Administration has colluded with that same foreign adversary of which our intelligence community has warned. President Trump has yet to take any affirmative steps to secure both the state and federal voting rolls from further hostile foreign interference. Given these facts, we find it reckless to increase voter data vulnerability by facilitating the Commission’s request. Several studies at the state and federal levels confirm there is no evidence to validate President Trump’s allegations of rampant illegal in-person voting during the 2016 elections. The inability of the Trump Administration to produce proof of in-person voter fraud does not necessitate the Commission or the collection of Wisconsin voter information. It is also worth noting that neither Vice Chair Kobach’s State of Kansas nor Commission Chair and Vice President Mike Pence’s State of Indiana is participating in this request to provide data. Wisconsin should follow the example of the growing number of states that are rightfully choosing to protect their voters. Sincerely, Gwen Moore Mark Pocan Ron Kind ### |
