{"id":33556,"date":"2017-07-03T07:09:50","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T07:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=33556"},"modified":"2017-07-03T12:02:35","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T12:02:35","slug":"trump-questions-states-wont-comply-voter-fraud-panel-requests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/trump-questions-states-wont-comply-voter-fraud-panel-requests.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump questions why some states won’t comply with ‘voter fraud panel’ requests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump questions why some states won’t comply with ‘voter fraud panel’ requests<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

In a Saturday morning tweet, President Donald Trump questioned the states refusing to comply with requests made by his administration\u2019s new Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity by asking what they may be hiding.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?” Trump asked in a tweet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity — referred to in his tweet as \u201cVOTER FRAUD PANEL\u201d — has been met with backlash by some secretaries of state who say the requests it\u2019s making are over the line in terms of the voter information it\u2019s seeking.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday Alex Padilla, secretary of state for California — one of the many states refusing to comply with the commission\u2019s request — responded to the president\u2019s tweet today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHiding? Nope. Fear? @realDonaldTrump using voter fraud lies to justify voter suppression. Stop investigating Americans. Focus on Russia,\u201d he said in a tweet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other states including New York, New Mexico, Virginia, South Dakota and Mississippi have also said they will not comply with requests from the White House\u2019s commission, which sent a letter last week to all 50 states asking for voter roll data. Information requested includes political party affiliations, the last four digits of social security numbers, voter history from 2006 onward, and any history of felony convictions and military service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump established the commission, led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, in May with the intent of investigating voter fraud and concerns of voter suppression. In the weeks following his 2016 electoral college win, Trump tweeted that he would have also won the popular vote \u201cif you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since winning the election, Trump and members of his administration have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on with voter fraud is horrible,\u201d Trump told ABC News\u2019 David Muir in a January interview. \u201cYou have people that are registered who are dead, who are illegals, who are in two states. You have people registered in two states. They’re registered in a New York and a New Jersey. They vote twice. There are millions of votes, in my opinion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But even the commission\u2019s chairman Kobach — who sent the request and serves as Kansas\u2019 secretary of state — said his state will not be providing the federal government with social security numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Kansas, the social security number is not publicly available,” Kobach told the Kansas City Star in an interview Friday. “Every state receives the same letter but we\u2019re not asking for it if it\u2019s not publicly available.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vice President Pence\u2019s home state of Indiana won\u2019t be complying either, according to Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIndiana law doesn\u2019t permit the secretary of state to provide the personal information requested by Secretary Kobach,\u201d Lawson, a Republican, said in a statement. \u201cUnder Indiana public records laws, certain voter info is available to the public, the media and any other person who requested the information for non-commercial purposes. The information publicly available is a name, address, and congressional district assignment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kay Stimson, the spokesperson for the National Association of Secretaries of State told ABC News they are currently \u201ctrying to compile information from states to see how they are responding to a records request from the commission.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to know how they are using the information they are collecting. We have asked the White House and we have not gotten a response yet,” said Stimson.<\/span><\/p>\n

Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research David Becker says states vary in what information is publicly available.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe commission has no special authority to collect data that I know of, so states have discretion about whether they provide data, and most seem to be providing only that which any member of the public could obtain,\u201d Becker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The issue of states\u2019 rights was raised by Mississippi\u2019s Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,\u201d Hosemann said in a statement. \u201cMississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state\u2019s right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the White House press briefing on Friday, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that state refusals to turn over information are \u201cmostly a political stunt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a commission that\u2019s asking for publicly available data. And the fact that these governors wouldn\u2019t be willing to turn that over — this is something that\u2019s been part of the commission\u2019s discussion, which has bipartisan support, and none of the members raised any concern whatsoever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/trump-questions-states-comply-voter-fraud-panel-requests\/story?id=48393945<\/span><\/p>\n

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