WASHINGTON – A leader of President Trump’s election fraud commission dismissed reports that 44 states have refused to turn over voter data as “fake news.”
Kris Kobach, vice chair of Trump’s task force designed to identify so-called illegal votes, said Wednesday 20 states have already agreed to provide “publicly available information,” while another 16 are still “reviewing” the demands for voter file information.
CNN, however, reported Tuesday that 44 states have defied the commission’s request to provide personal voter information — including name, age, party and even the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
“While there are news reports that 44 states have ‘refused’ to provide voter information to the Commission, these reports are patently false, more ‘fake news,’” Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State, said in a statement released by the White House.
“At present, only 14 states and the District of Columbia have refused the Commission’s request for publicly available voter information.”
The commission was cobbled together after President Trump declared – without evidence – the only reason Hillary Clinton won the popular vote is because “millions” of people voted illegally in November.
The election commission, officially headed by Vice President Mike Pence, is tasked with identifying voter fraud in America.
The discrepancy between Kobach’s account and news reports is likely due to the White House defining 20 states as complying by providing “publicly available voter data.”
But such states also said they’d couldn’t fork over remaining requested information because they deem it private.
Kobach sent a letter to the states last week asking for voter data, including full names, addresses, dates of birth, political parties, the last four digits of their social security numbers, a list of the elections they voted in since 2006, felony convictions, registrations in other states, military status, and living overseas.
The information, he wrote, would eventually be made public.
But the giant request may have violated federal law for failing to get clearance from the Office of Management of Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs before asking states to turn over info, the Hill reported Wednesday.
One privacy group, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, already filed a federal suit to try blocking Kobach’s request, saying it violates voters’ constitutional rights to privacy and transmitting such sensitive information over an “unsecure web site” puts them at risk for identity theft.
The Justice Department responded Wednesday that the request was merely “voluntary” and seeking publicly available information.
Many states, including New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, already rejected the request by saying they didn’t trust either Kobach or Trump’s motives.
“New York refuses to perpetuate the myth voter fraud played a role in our election. We will not be complying with this request,” Gov. Cuomo said in a statement.