Pennsylvania to Trump voter-fraud commission: you can pay for voter data like anyone else




By Chris Potter/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

President Donald Trump’s voter-fraud commission can get some of the data on Pennsylvania voters it seeks, but nothing more than is available to everyone else, according to a letter from Gov. Tom Wolf.

And, like everyone else, the commission will have to pay $20 for it.

The Presidential Commission on Election Integrity will not get Social Security numbers or other information it wanted — a request Mr. Wolf’s letter called “problematic” for several reasons, including privacy concerns.

More broadly, the letter asserts, “I have serious reservations about the true intentions of this effort in light of the false statements this administration has made regarding voting integrity, the historical suppression of voting rights, and the way that such data has been used in the past.”

It continues, “I have grave concerns your request is a mere pretense for pursuing restrictions on the fundamental right of citizens to vote. The right to vote is absolute and I have no confidence that you seek to bolster it.”

States including Connecticut, Ohio and Utah have similarly agreed — sometimes grudgingly — to hand over information that is generally available to the public, but nothing more.

The commission sent a letter Wednesday to all 50 states, seeking voter rolls complete with voter names, birthdates, party affiliation, partial Social Security numbers and voting history dating to 2006. Such data, the letter said, would help “to fully analyze vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting.”

Some of the nation’s most populous states, including California and New York, are refusing to comply. But even some conservative states that voted for Mr. Trump, such as Texas, say they can provide only partial responses based on what is allowed under state law.

Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted said Friday he will not turn over the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers. “Confidential info won’t be provided to Pres Advisory Comm on Election Integrity,” Mr. Husted said in a Twitter message. He later added, “We do not want fed intervention in our state’s right & respon to conduct elections.”

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, a Republican, said his office would review the request but is limited by state law in what it can provide.

Given the mishmash of information Mr. Trump’s commission will receive, it’s unclear how useful it will be or what the commission will do with it. Mr. Trump established the commission to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the 2016 elections, but Democrats have blasted it as a biased panel that is merely looking for ways to suppress the vote.

In Pennsylvania, much of the information being sought can be acquired by members of the public. The database, which is used by politicos and press alike, includes such details as names, party affiliation and voting history.

But the commission can expect nothing more, judging from Mr. Wolf’s letter and a series of late-afternoon tweets from his account. While Mr. Wolf tweeted that he would support federal efforts to help protect election systems, he noted that during the 2016 campaign, “then-candidate Trump repeatedly suggested widespread voter fraud in Pennsylvania without evidence.”

Indeed, while on the campaign trail Mr. Trump warned Pennsylvania audiences repeatedly that fraud, especially in Philadelphia, could cost him the election. Secretary of State Pedro Cortes blasted those remarks at the time, calling them “unpatriotic,” “irresponsible” and “dangerous.”

Chuck Pasal, a Democratic attorney active in election cases in Pittsburgh, said he’d hoped the state would reject the request. Although he acknowledged that politicos like him “all have databases.” he said, “I don’t have the power to make policy.”

The commission’s letter, signed by vice chairman Kris Kobach, also asked for feedback on seven election questions. Among them: information on occurrences of voter fraud; ways federal agencies or laws could better serve election officials; and recommendations on how to avoid voter disenfranchisement.

In-person voter fraud is vanishingly rare, but the issue has elicited sharp partisan debate. Republicans have long pressed for voter identification requirements and other measures they see as ensuring election security; Democrats have viewed such measures as back-door efforts to keep their base away from the polls.

And although the commission’s questions appear to address both concerns of voter fraud and voter suppression, skeptics are wary of Mr. Kobach, a vocal proponent of “Voter ID” laws. As Kansas’ secretary of state, he received extensive power to investigate voter fraud, claiming it was widespread, but has prosecuted only a handful of cases.

Mr. Kobach also expanded a Kansas Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, which sought to compare state voter rolls to find cases of double-voting across state lines. Mr. Wolf said that under Gov. Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania election officials found the system “useless” and “riddled with errors.”

By Friday afternoon, roughly 20 states had either rejected the commission’s request outright or said they would provide only information that would be available to any public request. Some Democratic-controlled states were especially harsh, characterizing the commission as a waste of energy at best and a prelude to voter disenfranchisement at worst.

“California’s participation would only serve to legitimize the false and already debunked claims of massive voter fraud,” said California’s secretary of state, Alex Padilla. Mr. Padilla called the commission “a distraction from the real threats to the integrity of our elections today: aging voting systems and documented Russian interference in our elections.”

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican serving his third term, said in a statement he had not received the commission’s request. If he does receive it?

“My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,” he said. “Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state’s right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes.”

Officials in 10 states and the District of Columbia said they would not comply at all with the request. They are California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.

The Associated Press contributed.