Letter to Donald J. Trump, President of the United States - Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity
Letter
Dear Mr. President:
We write to express our serious concerns with the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity's request for the personal information of voters from states to investigate unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election. This information requested includes: the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available, addresses, dates of birth, political party, last four digits of social security number if available, voter history (elections voted in from 2006 onward), active/inactive status, cancelled status, information regarding any felony convictions, information regarding voter registration in another state, information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information.[1]
The request potentially violates voters' rights to privacy. Additionally, we have serious reservations regarding the security of the online portal though which the Commission requested states supply the information. Such a collection of personal information would be a prime target for hacking by criminals, terrorists, and agents of foreign governments notwithstanding the Commission's claim that the data will be held on a "secure FTP site."
We are further concerned that the Commission has been established on the false premise that millions of people supposedly voted illegally in the 2016 election.[2] To date, there is simply no evidence.[3]
Moreover, despite this lack of evidence, it appears Commission Vice Chairman Kris Kobach has apparently already concluded that the President is, "absolutely correct when he says the number of illegal votes cast exceeds the popular vote margin between him and Hillary Clinton."[4]
Mr. Kobach has a record of attempting to disenfranchise voters. Last year, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit rebuked him for the mass disenfranchisement of thousands of people who registered to vote when they renewed their driver's licenses under the National Voter Registration Act. In the same case, a federal magistrate judge fined Mr. Kobach for making, "patently misleading representations to the court."[5]
Since the Commission on Election Integrity is incapable of protecting the precious right to vote or safeguarding the integrity of our electoral system, the President should rescind his May 11, 2017 Executive Order and direct the Commission to cease operations and disband immediately.
Sincerely,
Steve Cohen Shelia Jackson Lee
Member of Congress Member of Congress
[1] http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2017/images/06/30/peic.letter.to.maine[2].pdf
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/wh-trump-believes-millions-voted-illegally/index.html
[3] http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/nov/28/donald-trump/donald-trumps-pants-fire-claim-millions-illegal-vo/
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/opinion/trumps-voter-suppression-efforts.html
[5] Ibid
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