Trump’s Plans to Enact Voter Suppression Are Moving Forward

Last month, Trump breezed past more pressing issues like helping American AIDS/HIV sufferers and established a new committee to combat nonexistent voter fraud. The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity is viewed by many as a thinly-disguised attempt to enact voter suppression countrywide.

According to Fusion, that assertion was fueled further by the administration’s requests yesterday. A letter sent to election officials in every state asked for:

[P]ublicly-available voter roll data including, if publicly available under the laws of your state, the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available, addresses, dates of birth, political party (if recorded in your state), last four digits of Social Security number if available, [and] voter history from 2006 onward.

The letter was sent by Kris Kobach, the Vice Chair of the Election Integrity Commission:

1/ BREAKING: Kris Kobach sent this request to all states yesterday, requesting information on voter fraud and copies of their voter rolls. pic.twitter.com/2ci0XFTI4i

— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) June 29, 2017

Additionally, the Department of Justice sent out a memo requesting that all states submit information on how their voter rolls are saved:

2/ On the same day, the DOJ sent out a request for information on how states maintain their voter rolls. pic.twitter.com/pTQFzvvOb4

— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) June 29, 2017

All of this points to an effort by the White House to combat “voter fraud,” despite all evidence pointing to this being a nonissue. For example, according to the Washington Post, out of out of 31 billion votes cast in America, only 31 ballots were “impersonated.” Similar forms of possible voter fraud are incredibly rare. The efforts of this committee could one day be used to suppress votes that they believe unfavorable or can somehow claim as fraudulent.

For his part, Trump himself has consistently asserted that voter fraud is the reason he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. Continually, Trump has suggested non-citizens across the country found ways to illegally vote, despite a total lack of supporting evidence.

Recognizing the potential danger of these requests, states like California and Virginia have refused to comply with the request.

INBOX: @GovernorVA “has no intention of honoring” request by Trump panel on election fraud for lists of Virginia voter information. pic.twitter.com/ptt5dcixmn

— The Daily Progress (@DailyProgress) June 29, 2017