[T]he Trump administration is demanding that all secretaries of state nationwide provide voter information to the Election Integrity Commission as part of a probe into allegations of election fraud.
The commission has asked for voters’ dates of birth, voter histories, party affiliations, felony convictions, addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal information to be sent to the commission, which was formed by President Donald Trump, according to Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos.
While Condos says he is “bound by law” to provide publicly available voter files, he will not allow the release of drivers license numbers, dates of birth or Social Security numbers.
The vice chair of the commission, Kris Kobach, requested the data from states in a letter dated Wednesday.
Condos says he has no choice but to hand over publicly available lists of voters.
“While it gives me pause to enable the work of this commission in any way, I am bound by law to provide our publicly available voter file, but will provide no more information than is available to any individual requesting the file,” Condos said in a statement. “I wholeheartedly disagree with premise of this Commission: namely, that there is widespread voter fraud.
“I believe these unproven claims are an effort to set the stage to weaken our democratic process through a systematic national effort of voter suppression and intimidation,” Condos said.
Condos says “true” voter fraud is denying American citizens the right to vote and that the commission is “a waste of taxpayer money unless it focuses on the real issue of election integrity — the attempts by foreign entities to influence our elections.”
In addition to the voter information, Kobach asks secretaries of state to provide suggestions for changes improving the integrity of U.S. elections and information about instances of voter fraud.
The commission is studying the registration and voting processes used in federal elections for a report that is to be submitted to Trump.
